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Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2011 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/storyofcubaherstOOhals 



THE STORYoF CUBA 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY . . . 
THE CAUSE, CRISIS AND DESTINY 



OF THE 



PEARL OF THE ANTILLES 



nYy 



MURAT HALSTEAD 



GRAPHICALLY ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS TYPICAL PHOTOGRAPHIC 

REPRODUCTIONS AND ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, INCLUDING 

THOSE OF THE UNITED STATES BATTLE SHIP MAINE 



SIXTH EDITION— REUSED TO T>A7E 



1st COPY, 

1893a 




AKRON, OHIO /sr-r,^. /aXyCs^ 
iVERNER COMPANY / 



THE WERNER COMPANY 



TWO COP!' 



Copyright, 1896- 1897- 1898 

BY 

THE WERNER COMPANY. 







'1 



! )/ 



THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



The first words that invite the eye in a book are the 
last written. When the preface is prepared the work 
is finished. This volume is up-to-date, but the story of 
Cuba is not all told. The tragedy goes on. The tri- 
umph is to come. The logic of all history contemplates 
the conclusion we confidently declare. It is, that the 
end of foreign domination over the discoveries of 
Columbus and his followers, draws near. Cuba is the 
splendid stage on which is performed the last act of the 
drama of Spain in America. It is Spain's war with her 
children. All nations are spectators — our own with the 
greater share of interest and sympathy. It is as the 
first President Harrison wrote of our revolution — " hard, 
hard indeed, is the struggle for liberty and the contest 
for independence ! " There is to the student of the 
Cuban story, a series of surprises in the revelation of 
the immensity of the Island, the riches of her resources, 
the certainty of her rights and the cruelty of her 
wrongs, the marvelous position she holds in the trop- 
ical seas ; and there comes, with the enchantment of her 
" fatal gift of beauty," beyond the endowment of Italy, 
the conviction that the people who should inherit this 
land, are honorably and bravely represented in the 

5 '^ 



6 THE AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 

rebellion, and that the righteousness that exalts a na- 
tion is in their cause of liberty. 

There are hundreds of books about Cuba. Many are 
meritorious. We have gathered from those that are 
authorities, or that excel in the picturesque, and care- 
fully credited, characteristic passages, that confirm or 
illustrate ; but above all other writings, in whatever 
form given, acknowledgments of obligations are due to 
the newspapers — the New York Journal, Herald, 
World, Stui, and Mail afid Express, whose correspond- 
ents, adventurous and courageous, are the able and the 
only historians of the war. The author remembers them 
as comrades in difficult good works, and with pride in 
the association, inscribes to them this sorrowful story, of 
the fairest of islands that shall grow lovelier yet in lib- 
erty. They have honored the press and served the 
country. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The Story of Cuba is a tragedy. The beautiful island, 
when found by civilized man, was peopled by a gentle 
race, kindly, innocent, indolent, loving ; living on fish 
and fruit, corn and sweet potatoes, under the shade of 
royal palms, in orchards of pineapples and oranges ; 
the very wilderness brilliant with flowers, and birds of 
glittering plumage ; the guileless tribes happy and harm- 
less as if they were chosen children of God, dwelling 
apart in Paradise. 

These dainty savages were seized and held, and per- 
ished in servitude to the fierce, remorseless adventurers, 
who, in the passion of empire and greed for gold, were 
insensible to the considerations of humanity and the 
charity of Christianity, and into the bitter gloom of 
whose selfishness there entered no soft sentiment of 
mercy and no ray of the enlightenment of good will to 
men or of the generosities of statesmanship. 

Then followed African slavery as a benevolent miti- 
gation of the barbarism that consumed the poor Indians 
in their tenderness and timidity ; and it is a Cuban tra- 
dition that the sharks that now swarm on the shores of 
the Island w^ere introduced by following the slave ships 
from the waters of Africa to devour the victims that, 
overcome by the torments of the terrible voyages, were 
flung into the sea. 

For a century Cuba was the base of operations of the 



8 INTROD UCTION. 

expedition of the conquering Spaniards in tropical Amer- 
ica, and for another century the fleets, with the spoils 
of the conquest of the West, sailed from her harbors, 
and then, for a century, the West Indies became the 
scene of a tremendous contest for naval supremacy by 
England, France and Spain. After England won the 
mastery of the ocean, Napoleon, losing the sea power 
at Trafalgar, attempted to coerce all continental Europe 
into his schemes of aggrandizement, and Spain, resisting 
his pretensions, was crushed for a time by his imperial 
genius, but closed with him in a war to the knife, that 
endured until the conqueror was conquered ; but not 
until after parcelling out his American possessions, 
and then the crumbling of Spanish dominion in the 
New World began. 

Before our revolutionary war — it was in 1762 — Ha- 
vana was besieged and captured by the English, and 
the episode of their occupation of her harbor, and open- 
ing it to commerce, stimulated the Cubans to marine 
enterprise ; but though they had been long faithful, and 
began to prosper after the fall of the French empire, 
and had a right to share the progress and dignity of 
Spain, to which they were loyal in affection through her 
misfortunes, they were swiftly reminded of colonial 
disabilities ; and then came the conflicts that are cul- 
minating in the condition of the Island, the richest that 
the seas encircle, where the Spaniards and their children 
are carrying on a war of desolation that is ruining both. 

The higher class of the public men of our country 
have always been interested in Cuba, and she has had 
a charm for our people in proportion to the elevation 
of their intelligence. The logic of Spanish history is 
the loss of Cuba. The same causes that cost Spain, 



IN TROD UCTION. 



Mexico, and Peru, and Chili, and Bolivia, Central Amer- 
ica, Venezuela, and the rest, mean also that the long 
struggle of the Cubans for liberty will close in triumph. 
With Cuba's destiny in the hands of her own people, 
she will obey the irresistible attraction of our Union to 
be one of the United States. 

With the advantages of recent personal observation 
of the situation in Cuba, receiving polite attentions and 
extensive information from the Spanish authorities, and 
enjoying the confidence of Cubans, and the candid ex- 
pression of their interpretation of events, it is with a 
sense of duty to the veracity of history, that I propose 
to recite with sincerity the Cuban story of four hundred 
years. 

MURAT HaLSTEAD. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGFS 

Introduction 7 



CHAPTER I. 

FIRST EVENTS AND EARLY INFLUENCES. 

The Discovery — Columbus Enchanted — His Dreams — Beauty of Earth, 
Ocean and Sky — The Gentle Natives Smoke Cigarettes — Some Slow 
Centuries — The British Conquest — Dawn of Revolution in the Ever 
Faithful Island — The Slavery Embarrassment — Thomas Jefferson and 
Charles Sumner — A Despotic Political Economy 23-31 

CHAPTER II. 

EUROPE AND AMERICA AND THE INDIES. 

British Conquest of Cuba — American Revolution and Cuban Insurrections 
— Americans Interested in Cuban Affairs — The Lopez and Virgifiuts 
Massacres — Terrible Scenes of Bloodshed — Cuban Martyr's Letter to 
his Wife , 32-54 

CHAPTER III. 

ORIGIN AND CONDUCT OF CUBAN WARS. 

Spanish Passion for Cuba — Growth of Cuban War Spirit — The Ten Years' 
War Compared with the Present — Gomez and Campos in Both — Ta- 
con's Tyranny — Slavery Abolished — "Book of Blood" — Edinburg 
Review on War of '68-' 78 55-69 

CHAPTER IV. 

SPANISH STORY OF THE TREATY OF ZANJON. 

Was the Famous Compact that Closed the Ten Years' War Fairly Drawn 
and Honorably Executed, or a sham, with Nothing for Cuba in it? — 
— The Side of Spain Set Forth on the Highest Authority, with Cita- 
tions of the Reform Laws and the Liberal Autonomist Circular ^'^-^^ 

II 



12 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE SPANISH WAR POLICY. 

PAGES 

The Way the Present War Opened, and How it Progressed — Personal 
Characteristics of Prominent Figures — Campos, Weyler, Gomez, the 
Maceos and Garcia — The War Shifted to the West End — The Prize of 
the Victor Praised in Prose and Poetry 88-101 

CHAPTER VI. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRESENT CUBAN WAR. 

The Press of Cuba — Its Limitations — An Assault on American Senators 
— The Comic Style of Abusing Uncle Sam — Interview with Captain- 
General Marin — His View of the Zanjon Reforms and Rebel Ingrati- 
tude — Refers to the Ten Years' War and to the Robbers — The Retir- 
ing Captain-General does not get a Hearing in Havana 102-109 

CHAPTER VII. 

LEADING QUESTIONS OF RACES AND CRIMES. 

The Blacks as Soldiers and in Caricature — Preoccupation on Both Sides in 
Cuba with the United States — Habits of Exaggeration — Governor- 
General Weyler Interviewed, and Defends his Policy — Too Much 
Attention to Wild Stories — Brutalities of Bandits — The Machete the 
Sword of Cuba U0-122 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ORDERS AND ADMINISTRATION OF WEYLER. 

A Vigorous and Comprehensive Series of Orders, Declarations, Decrees 
and Commands, and Promises of Restoration of Order in these Prov- 
inces on the 15th of March — The Difference Between the Proclama- 
tion and the Performance — The Weyler Administration Signally Fails 
—The Daring and Success of the Maceos — A Hard Blow at a Sore 
Time and Place 123-137 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE FORCES NOW ENGAGED IN CUBA. 

The Conduct of the War — Spanish Force Almost 200,000 Armed Men — 
65,000 Cubans in Arms, but Poorly Armed — Cavalry a Most Impor- 
tant Factor — Sanitary Regulations Lessen Spanish Loss by Sickness 
— Opinions of Experts — Suggestions of Strategy — Statistics of the 
Population of Combatants — Women in the Army for Protection 138-147 



CONTENTS. 1 3 

CHAPTER X. 

THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT. 

PAGES 

Cubitas the Capital — A Letter from the President — Proclamation and Let- 
ter from Gomez, the Hero of the War, and a Letter from Maceo 148-157 

CHAPTER XL 

THE PLAY OF PRESIDENT PIERCE FOR CUBA. 

American Interest in Cuba, and English Jealousy — The Famous Confer- 
ence at Ostend in 1854, between Buchanan, Mason and Soule, the 
Ministers to England, France and Spain — Mr. Marcy's Warlike Letters 
and Soul6's Courtly Ways — Cuba we must have, in Peace if Possible, 
by War if Necessary, was the Policy of Pierce — The Famous Mani- 
festo by Three Ministers — A Record of the Past Applicable to the 
Present — Buchanan's Nomination for the Presidency 158-180 

CHAPTER XH. 

ENGLISH FAILURE IN THE WEST INDIES. 

The Testimony of the Eminent Historian, James Anthony Froude — The 
Mismanagement of the English Islands by Free Trade Orators — Negro 
Predominance — The Spanish Islands are Peopled with the Children 
of Spaniards — Black Labor and Beet Sugar — Cuba and the United ~'- 
States, as an Englishman puts the Questions of Destiny 181-191 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CITY OF HAVANA. 

Life in the Capital of Cuba during the War Time — Hotel Apartments and 
Furniture — Breakfasts — Barber Shops — Bar Rooms — Narrow Streets 
— The Double Standard — The Water Jug — A Hot Weather Town — A 
Tender-Necked People — The Casino and the Castle and the Royal 
Palms in the Garden 192-214 

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE BRITISH AND PROVINCIAL CONQUEST OF CUBA. 

How the Island was Invaded, and Havana Captured, After a Bloody and 
Deadly Siege, in the Summer of 1762, by the British Under Lord Albe- 
marle, Helped Just in Time by a Force of 2,300 Men from Connecti- 
cut, New York, and New Jersey, Under General Lyman and Colonel 
Israel Putnam, and then Returned to the Spaniards — Frightful Losses 
of the Invaders — Havana Looted, and a Prize Money Scandal — The 



14 CONTENTS 



Greed of the British Officers — Did the Provincial Troops Establish 
a Preemption Right to the Island ? — Colonial and English Sympa- 
thy — Washington's Brother in the British Service in the West Indies 
— A Connecticut Chaplain's Journal of the Plague at Havana — Sad 
Fate of General Lyman 215-252 



CHAPTER XV. 

EARLY INCIDENTS OF THE PRESENT WAR. 

The Ibarra Band the First Organized — Coloma and his Fiance, being 
Captured, are Married in Moro Castle — Efforts Made for Peace, but 
the Disturbance Spread Rapidly — General Campos, President Marti, 
Gomez and Maceo Land in Cuba — Marti's Death — The Cause of Guer- 
illa Warfare 253-271 

CHAPTER XVI. 

BATTLE OF BAYAMO AND RESULTS. 

Campos' First Sharp Check — Spaniards Much Shaken — Severe and Inter- 
esting Battle — General Santocildes Sacrifices his Life to Save that of 
Campos — Maceo does not Permit his Sharpshooters to Pick Off Cam- 
pos — Maceo's Humanity to the Wounded 272-277 

CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MASSACRE AT GAUTAO. 

A Seaside Breakfast and the Cuban Flag — The Road into the Cuban Re- 
public — How the Rebels Foraged — The Gulf and the Sharks — The 
First News of the Massacre — The Tale of a Volunteer who Partici- 
pated — Eighteen Pacificos Killed to two Soldiers — Marcy Reports — 
Adventures of Correspondents— Talk with General Weyler on the 
Subject — The Dismal Scene at the Palace 278-290 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

HORRORS OF MORO CASTLE. 

A Newspaper Correspondent Arbitrarily Arrested — A Night and Two Days 
in an Ugly Dungeon — Neglect of Prisoners — A Case of Mistaken 
Identity — Released, but Apology not Made — The Claim of Clemency, 
not Justice, Insisted Ui-on — The Exclusive Society of Gray Rats not 
Agreeable ■• 291- 



CONTENTS. 1 1 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SECOND YEAR OF THE SECOND WAR. 

PAGES 

The Condition of the Country Approaching the Second Rainy Season of 
the Struggle — Why the War-Cry went forth in February — The Saga- 
city of Gomez in Choosing Time and Place — Preparing for his Re- 
markable Campaign — The Policy of Destruction — Why it was Adopted 
— The Way the Spaniards are Retaliating — Cuba Laid Waste by Both 
Combatants — War, Pestilence and Famine — The Terrible Privations 
and Distress of the People 301-31 1 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE PICTURESQUE IN THE WAR. 

The Camps of the Rebels and the Palace of the Governor-General — How 
the Wounded Cubans are Cared for — The Inside of the Rebellion in 
the Woods, and the Secret Doors of the Palace — The Cuban Women 
in the War, and an American Woman Interviews the Redoubtable 
Weyler, and he Shows Photographs of his Family, and Gives her 
Flowers 312-341 

CHAPTER XXI. 

AN IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT OF TESTIMONY. 

The Double-Entry Historical Bookkeeping of the Battles in Cuba — The 
Remarkable Characteristics of Discrepancy — The Havana and Key 
West Stories Discolored and Distorted Out of Recognition — The Re- 
sponsibility for Nickel Novel Cuban Reports — Dynamite and the 
Press — The War in the West End 342-355 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE RECORD OF DESOLATION AND DESPAIR. 

The Torch is Mightier than the Sword — -Lists of the Plantations and Towns 
Burned — Dramatic Scenes and Thrilling Incidents in the Doomed 
Island — The Work of Destruction the Only Occupation — Utter Col- 
lapse of Business — Famine Close at Hand — Inhumanity and the Cu- 
ban Cry for Cartridges — A New York Deserter — A Business Man has 
One Hope of Escaping Ruin — The Truth of the Civil Government of 
Cuba — The Cry for Cartridges 356-392 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE CAUSE OF CUBA. 

Cuba is Governed by Spain for Spain — Cubans are Taxed to Protect 
Spain — Impolicy Prepared for Revolution — Rebellion Forced by Mis- 



1 6 CONTENTS. 

PAGES 

government — Public Papers as Testimony — A Ruler of Spain Polite 

to General Grant About Cuban Independence 393-411 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

THE CRISIS IN CUBA. 

This War not a Ten Years' War — The Fighting too Fast and Furious to 
Last — The Crisis Financial, Industrial, Social, Military and Po'litical 
— General Lee's Important Functions — The Policy of the Administra- 
tion — Senator White's Speech — James Creelman's Story of Massacre 
— The Power and Duty of the United States — The Mutual Hatred of 
the Creole and the Spaniard, and Influence of the Abolition of 
Slavery 412-444 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE DESTINY OF CUBA. 

A Personal Word — Account of a Mysterious Missionary — Comparison of 
Campos and Weyler — Spain has Lost Cuba — The Destiny of the Pearl 
of Islands is to be one of our States — Gentlemen are Rebels — The 
Volunteers as Business Men — Cubans Worthy to be our Fellow 
Citizens 445-472 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

POINTS OF PICTURES. 

Sugar Plantation — Tobacco Fields — Royal Palms — Cocoanut Palms — 
Cuban Vegetation — Moro Castle Cell — Valley of the Yumuri — San- 
tiago — Royal Family — The Object Lesson of Cuba and Long Island 
Contrasted on the Scale as to Size — The Spanish Hill-top and Car 
Fortifications — Cuban Pictures too Beautiful to Paint, Except with a 
Poetic Pen 473-49^ 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

STATISTICAL AND DOCUMENTARY. 

Organization of the Cuban Army, as Reported by General Gomez — Com- 
merce of Spain with her Colonies — The Authentic Figures of the 
Population of the Island, Showing the Proportion of Whites and 
Colored People— Official Cuban Letters and Proclamations 492-504 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

NATURAL RICHES AND NATIVE CHARMS OF CUBA. 

The Cultivation of Sugar Cane— Picture of a Cuban Garden — The South- 
ern Cross— Cuba as Eden— Sugar Making — Tobacco Raising — The 



CONTENTS. 1 7 



Forests and Fruits — Beauty of the Nights — Cuba Compared with 
New York — The Precious Woods — Mountains and Rivers — Solid 
Encyclopaedical Information — The Cry of a Poor Man 505-53I 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE ANCIENT RECORDS OF THE ISLAND. 

The Words in Spanish and Rendered in English with which Columbus 
Reports the Discovery of Cuba — The Words in which he Reported 
the Smoking of Tobacco by the Islanders — The Account of the First 
Mass Celebrated in the New World 532-541 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE SITUATION WHEN WEYLER ARRIVED. 

Monotony of Military Situation — The Trocha as a Spanish Delusion — 
Strange Paralysis of the Army of Spain — How It Pays to Keep Full 
Prisons — Corrupt Sluggards — The Combats at Cacarajicara and Man- 
zanillo — Troubles of American Correspondents — Captain - General 
Weyler's Personality — Gossip About Him — The Filibusters — The 
Strained Relations with Spain in 1873 — Sickles and Fish Dispatches — 
Settlement of the Virginius Case 542-580 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

OUTLINE HISTORY OF CUBA FROM MAY, 1896, TO JANUARY, l8g7. 

A Memorable Year — A Long Period of Spanish Stagnation — The Rainy 
Season Recess — Maceo Disturbs Peace in Pinar del Rio — Weyler's 
Policy — Bird's-eye View of Cuban Provinces — Resemblance to New 
England — The Famous Trocha — Conflict of Testimony — Common 
Carelessness as to Truth — The Death of Maceo, and Variety of 
Fiction Founded on It — Dr. Zertucha a Sinister Character — Two 
American Correspondents with the Spaniards Give Interesting Infor- 
mation — The Story of a Fight at Sea — Fantastic Falsehoods — Cas- 
telar's Political Poetry — No Spanish Reform — Cleveland and Con- 
gress — Importance of Diplomatic Form and Dignity 581-601 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

SPANISH FINANCIAL CRISIS AND AMERICAN POLICY. 

Fighting in a Cloud — A Mystery of Horror — The Situation after Twenty- 
eight Months of War — How the Spanish Army is Wasted — Cuba in 
Congress — Belligerency Resolution — Policy of the Administration — 
The Foresight of Gomez — Fortunes of East and West Cuba — Crisis 
in Spanish Finance — Spain Agitated — Prospect for Peace — General 

Woodford Minister to Spain 602-625 

C— 2 



1 8 CONT£iVTS, 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

STRAINED RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN. 

Review of the Course of the War — Failures of the Captains-General 
Campos, Weyler and Blanco — Under Spain's Colonial System Auto- 
nomy of Cuba Impossible — Significance of the President's Annual 
Message — "Intervene with Force" — De Lome Incident — His Re- 
presentative Character — The Tragedy of the Maine in Havana Har- 
bor — Captain Sigsbee's Despatch — List of Dead of the Maine — The 
President Refuses to Recall General Lee at Spanish Suggestion, and 
$50,000,000 are appropriated for National Defense — There's a War 
Cloud on the Horizon 626-649 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



1/ 

Murat Halstead Frontispiece 

^ Map of Cuba, showing operations of the Insur- 
gents Face Contents 

Havana 22 

Butchery of the Crew of the Virginius, Captain Fry Bid- 
ding His Men Farewell 39 

' The Virginius Martyrs 47 

'' General Martinez Campos 59 

"" Group — De Lome, Castillo, Hannis Taylor 73 

D, Valeriano Weyler 89 

xVntonio Maceo 97 

Charge of Cuban Cavalry 119 

' Sugar Cane Plantation 133 

■ Women Cavalry 145 

General Maximo Gomez 155 

Queen Regent of Spain and Children 169 

/View near Santiago 183 

Moro Castle 193 

; Avenue of Palms, Havana 203 

v-Corridor in the Casino 211 

Alphonse XHL, King of Spain 225 

A Narrow Street and Cathedral 241 

' Cuban Junta 257 

^/Cisneros and Marti 267 

^ Cubans in Ambush, Typical Fort, etc 285 

' Cell in Moro Castle 297 

Valley of the Yumuri 313 

19 



20 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Cubans Fighting from Tree-tops ■. 323 

Fruit Stand in Havana 333 

y A Close Encounter 351 

Spanish Outpost near Remedios 361 

Landing Arms, etc., from the Bermuda 373 

'/Coffee Plantation 397 

Cocoanut Palm 415 

Destruction of a Railway Train by Dynamite 433 

.Defense of a Barricade of Sugar Barrels 45 1 

Tobacco Plantation 461 

Attack on a Fortified Railroad Train 479 

Cuban Attack on Fort near Vueltas 489 

President Cisneros and Cabinet 507 

Templete Chapel. . 533 

Calixto Garcia 543 

Repulsing the Spaniards at Alto Songo 561 

The Death of Maceo 589 

The Battle-Ship Maine 626 

General Blanco. 630 

Ex-Minister De Lome 634 

Captain Sigsbee in the Cabin of the Maine 636 

The Destruction of the Maine.--. 638 

'/'Captain Sigsbee on Deck 642 

'^' Consul-General Fitz-Hugh Lee , 646 

' Assistant-Secretary Day 648 





~^ 




44 



m] 



'^t 




THE STORY OF CUBA 

CHAPTER I. 

FIRST EVENTS AND EARLY INFLUENCES. 

The Discovery — Columbus Enchanted — His Dreams — Beauty of Earth, 
Ocean and Sky — The Gentle Natives Smoke Cigarettes — Some Slow 
Centuries — The British Conquest — Dawh of Revolution in the Ever 
Faithful Island — The Slavery Embarrassment — Thomas Jefferson 
and Charles Sumner — A Despotic Political Economy. 

When Christopher Columbus found Cuba he was in 
the midst of his wonderful dream of the Indies, and 
all the world had for him become enchanted. He sailed 
on his immortal voyage, believing" that he would find 
the beautiful country of which he had read in the story 
of Marco Polo, and as he sailed from island to island, 
finding each new discovery more romantic than the 
last, he interpreted all the incidents to confirm his belief 
that he was nearing Cipango, and would very soon 
have the opportunity of delivering the letters, with which 
he was equipped from Ferdinand and Isabella, to the 
Great Khan. He and his followers asked the simple 
natives, whether meeting them in their canoes or under 
their fruit-trees, for gold, and thought the responses 
meant that a great country was close at hand, and that 
could be none other than the mysterious land of whose 
fabulous riches the most famous of wanderers, who had 
traveled furthest East, had told. 

The Island that he called Isabella, for the beloved 

sovereign of Castile, his benign patroness, proved espe- 

23 



24 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

cially captivating to the great navigator, and he wrote 
of- it: "Everything is green as April in Andalusia. 
The singing of the birds is such that it seems as if one 
would never desire to depart. There are flocks of par- 
rots that obscure the sun. There are trees of a thou- 
sand species, each having its particular fruit, and all of 
marvelous flavor." 

Inspired by his eastern romance, he detected in the 
air " spicy odors," and enjoyed a fragrance from the 
blossoming groves, that he said " was the sweetest 
thing in the world," and there were many precious trees 
of which he knew nothing, but that they would be of 
great price in Spain ; and that was so", bothof the wood 
and of the fruit. The great land, a little way over the 
exquisite waters, of which he heard continually, was 
Cuba, and when at last he saw it on the morning of 
the 28th of October, 1492, he was not surprised, but his 
soul was sailing along the shores of Japan, half around 
the world away. 

He was in the midst of the season of rains in the Indies 
he was discovering, and in the very month destined to 
celebrity for awful hurricanes in that region, but the 
ocean was as silk under his adventurous prow, the water 
was almost transparent as the air, and places of anchor- 
age were chosen by the appearance of the bottom of 
the sea. At first view the Cuban mountains reminded 
the discoverer of those of Sicily, so lofty were they in 
the crystal sky. He sighted land near Neuvitas del Prin- 
cipe, and thought he found " noble and profound rivers," 
whose shores were overhung with blooming trees, and 
he was struck by the extraordinary wealth of color of 
the flowers, and the majesty of the royal palms. He 
called the Island Juana, for Prince Juan, and then, when 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 25 

Ferdinand died, the name was changed to Fernandina, 
and then Santiago, and then for the Holy Virgin ; but 
the old Indian name, Cuba, conquered all competition, 
and has asserted itself triumphantly for four hundred 
years ; typically, we may trust, after the sorrowful cen- 
turies of its final American destiny. 

As Columbus sailed along the splendid shores, he fan- 
cied he was about to find the city where the Great Khan 
dwelt, and sent expeditions of inquiry, and as they 
sought the kingdom of the far East, they were particu- 
larly anxious for gold — a few ornaments made of that 
metal appealing to the imagination. The messengers 
hunting the Khan — who was only 13,000 miles away — 
made a great discovery, that of the Indians smoking 
tobacco, nearly in the form that is the favorite indulgence 
of the Cubans to this day — the cigarette. 

The exaltation of mind of the Discoverer influenced 
every scrap of his writings. The wings of his fancy 
were broad and free as he followed his false clue. The 
realities around him surpassed the creations of fancy, 
and there was an ineffable harvest of glory, but it did 
not enter into his visions that he had found a hemis- 
phere. The nature of the people of this marvelous land, 
dwelling in houses built of palms, and living on a bill 
of fare of fruits afforded nowhere else, seemed to the 
great Genoese, whose romances compete with his his- 
tory in their benignity, to be admirable material to be- 
come children of the Church, and he beheld in the 
riches unfolded before his eyes the resources that should 
enable him to snatch the Holy Sepulchre from the grasp 
of the infidel. 

The first idea impressed upon Columbus by Cuba was, 
that it was indeed an island, and then his conviction 



26 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

was formed, and never departed from him, that it was 
a continent, and it was not circumnavigated until 1508, 
when it was ascertained to be almost the same size as 
England. His point of first contact was on the north 
shore of the second province, as the Island is now or- 
ganized from the east end. His westward voyages did 
not reach the extremity of the land in that direction. 
He rounded the eastern point, encountered the high 
land of Hayti, and, fascinated by the Caribbean Sea, 
touched in a later voyage the South American coast. 

He knew not what he had done, but had scanned the 
northern coast of the southern continent, and Cuba re- 
mained the most superb land he personally found in the 
New World he gave Spain ; and it is more deeply iden- 
tified with his memory than anything else he revealed 
to mankind, and richer than Cipango itself, as the trop- 
ics are richer than the temperate zones. 

The first three centuries of Cuban history did not, in 
a marked degree, develop the elements of discord be- 
tween Spain and her richest colony, that in the latter 
half of her fourth century have proven so irrepressible 
and disastrous. The story of the Island for the earlier 
centuries would have been tedious had it not been for 
the incidents of external contention by which she was 
interested and influenced. 

A volume appeared in New York, in 1850, that is 
regarded by the Cuban revolutionists as correctly defin- 
ing their cause as it was at that time ; and the argument 
of this work, " Cuba and the Cubans," was that the 
Island had been under martial law for a quarter of a 
century; the captain - general having been, in 1825, \ 
invested " with the whole extent of power granted to 
the Governors of besieged towns." This has been the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 27 

state of the Island for nearly three quarters of a cen- 
tury, and it is the phrase of felicitation among the 
insurgents that now after one year's war they " besieg-e 
all the towns " — that is by land — the Spaniards holding 
only the soil of the country they cover with troops, and 
the cities commanded by their fleets. It is the Cuban 
boast, therefore, that they have " limited " the territory 
of the operation of martial law. 

In the stories of Cuba after her first three hundred 
years, the importance of the United States, the great 
power close at hand, is continually manifest. This pas- 
sage, from "Cuba and the Cubans," page 5 2, is an example: 

During the second period of democratic, or what was called constitu- 
tional government, which commenced in 1820, the Masonic societies 
came into vogue as they did in the mother country. They adopted dif- 
ferent plausible pretexts — though to speak the truth, they were little more 
than clubs for amusement and revelry. One of them, called the " Soles 
de Bolivar," went so far as to discuss whether, in case of a Columbian 
invasion, it would be more expedient to avoid a collision in the presence 
of the slaves, by giving way peaceably before the invading army. Hap- 
pily for Cuba, and certainly in consequence of the judicious interference 
of the United States, which foresaw in the preservation of its tranquility 
the advantages of a fruitful commerce, the invasion did not take place. 
And if the Island has since had to lament the gradual encroachments of 
the executive, in all the several branches of its politics and administra- 
tion, it has also been preserved from the sanguinary results which the 
premature establishment of ultra free institutions has produced in all the 
numerous countries which once formed the dominion of Spain in America. 
For the difficulty of annexation, from the lesser influence the United 
States then possessed among nations, and the controlling importance of 
the shipping interest in that country. 

The trouble here, as it is plain to see, was slavery 
and the natural opposition of the slave holders to " the 
premature establishment of ultra free institutions." 
However, the book we quote undertook to show that the 



2 8 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

freedom of Cuba would certainly come speedily, and in 
that made a miscalculation of at least forty-five years. 

The question of the annexation of Cuba to the United 
States was subordinated on both sides — until the abolish- 
ment of slavery by the ten years' war, closing in 1878 — 
to the consideration of the slave questions, and but for 
this Cuba would have escaped from Spain without aid 
long ago. 

Senator Lodge cleverly, in his speech before the Mas- 
sachusetts State Convention, read a few lines that were 
" written in order to be precise " as follows : 

For myself I cannot doubt that in the interest of both parties, Cuba 
and Spain, and in the interest of humanity, also, the contest should be 
closed. This is my judgment on the facts so far as known to me. Cuba 
must be saved from its bloody delirium or little will be left for the final 
conquerors. Nor can the enlightened mind fail to see that the Spanish 
power on this Island is anachronism. The day of European colonies has 
passed, at least in this hemisphere, where the rights of men were first 
proclaimed and self-government first organized. [Applause.] 

The words were Charles Sumner's, spoken in 1869, 
when the ten years' war had been going on one year — 
the same length of time the present warfare has raged. 
Mr. Sumner was, of course, hindered in his sympathies 
with the Cuban rebellion of that time because the rebels 
were largely slave holders, and it was not given him to 
see that when the conflict pending, as he spoke, was 
over, Cuba should be free in the sense that there would 
be an end of slavery on her soil. 

We may go back to the far-seeing statesman, Thomas 
Jefferson, who found, when the Louisiana Purchase was 
proposed, that the constitution which he sought to con- 
strue with a sharp outlook for the suppression of doubt- 
ful powers, was broad enough to permit the nation to 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 29 

buy the mouth of the Mississippi, and we find him 
writing", as recently quoted in the United States Senate 
by Mr. Vest of Missouri : 

Napoleon will certainly give his consent without difificulty to our re- 
ceiving the Floridas, and with some difficulty possibly Cuba. 

That he would give us the Floridas to withhold intercourse with the 
residue of the colonies cannot be doubted. But that is no price, because 
they are ours in the first moment of the first war, and until a war they 
are of no particular necessity to us. But, although with difficulty, he 
will consent to our receiving Cuba into our Union, to prevent our aid to 
Mexico and the other provinces. That would be a price, and I would 
immediately erect a column in the southernmost limit of Cuba, and in- 
scribe on it Ne Plus Ultra, as to us, in that direction. We should then 
have only to include the North in our confederacy, which would be, of 
course, in the first war, and we should have such an empire for liberty as 
she has never surveyed since the creation, and I am persuaded no con- 
stitution was ever before so well calculated as ours for extensive empire 
and self-government. As the Mento)- went away before this change, and 
will leave France probably while it is still a secret in that hemisphere, I 
presume the expediency of pursuing her with a swift-sailing dispatch was 
considered. It will be objected to our receiving Cuba that no limit can 
then be drawn to our future acquisitions. Cuba can be defended by us 
without a navy, and this develops the principle which ought to limit our 
views. Nothing should ever be accepted which would require a navy \o 
defend it. 

It was clearly in the mind of Jefferson that Spain might 
listen to reason and part with Cuba, as France with Louis- 
iana. In the days when Jefferson and Sumner wrote the 
passages given, the dark problem of slavery confronted 
us in nearly half our own States, and complicated the 
issue of the acquisition of territory with that of the ex- 
tension or the restriction of slave soil in the republic. 

The Cuban filibustering expeditions of a former gener- 
ation, attended, as they were, with the loss of valued lives 
and the transmission of an inheritance of excitements 



30 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

and hatreds, were distinctly to provide for the admis- 
sion of more slave States into the American Union. 
With slavery abolished throughout America, we can 
contemplate Cuba without a shadow of slave power to 
obscure the vision ; and there is the greater reason why 
the enfranchisement of her whole people should be es- 
tablished and her self-government absolutely achieved, 
while it is the true contention that the better form 
of that accomplishment is her annexation as a State to 
the United States, as Texas was annexed. 

There was a narrow policy, involving the greatest 
men of their day and generation in our country, that 
would have excluded Texas — the France of America — 
and that could have abandoned the golden opportunity 
to acquire California, but the common sense of the 
common people was wiser far than the statesmanship of 
the giants of those days, Clay and Webster. 

It is fortunate that Cuba did not fall into our hands 
as a slave State, for when the slave power was so great 
in our government, and a greater peril than we were 
aware, it must have increased our difficulties, and our 
sovereio-n State idea would, at the same time, have 
taken evil shape. But that is all over. Our free Union, 
as it stands, is " one and inseparable," and just as cer- 
tain as that is so, is the fact that the States are imperish- 
able quantities, never to be subtracted from the sum. 
Our State method of self-government is that which 
Cuba wants — the style of autonomy she needs — and the 
pressure of our mighty forces upon her ways in affairs 
political, would steady the State to accept her share of 
our destiny. 

Cuba, it will be remembered, was of slow growth, and 
aroused from the stupor of centuries by the British 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 3 I 

occupation of 1 762. " Cuba and the Cubans " says of the 
protracted paralysis of the Island : 

The truth lies in the fact that after having exhausted the Indian popu- 
lation, the Island was only held as a military post on the way to the 
mines of Mexico, with little else to occupy its reduced population than 
the raising of cattle on lands not appropriated. To the latter years of 
the past century, commerce was not only confined to Spanish merchant- 
men but to the periodical voyage of the fleet belonging to the East India 
Company. Foreign trade has only been authorized in the present cen- 
tury, when the European wars, forcing the Spanish flag from the seas, an 
encroachment of contraband trade made it impossible to oppose it. 

The commercial restrictions were antiquated, and, of 
course oppressive, and extended to all the relations of 
Spain and the Spanish provinces. At the opening of the 
nineteenth century, the now alienated children of Spain 
claimed that her attitude was one of nobility, actuated 
by patriotic impulse, and Cuba, repeatedly invaded as a 
Spanish province, was true to the old colors ; but her 
loyalty did not affect the steady encroachment of the 
fatalities of the colonial system of Spain, or the indu- 
rated and deadly prejudices of her political economy. 



32 THE STORY OF CUBA, 



CHAPTER II. 

EUROPE AND AMERICA AND THE INDIES. 

British Conquest of Cuba — American Revolution and Cuban Insurrec- 
tions — Americans Interested in Cuban Affairs — The Lopez and 
Virginins Massacres — Terrible Scenes of Bloodshed — Cuban Mar- 
tyr's Letter to his Wife. 

One of the most remarkable things in the history of 
Cuba is the length of time that it was but sparsely pop- 
ulated, and that the value of the Island, on account of 
the surpassing riches of its soil, vvas, if not unknown, 
surprisingly unappreciated. 

The West Indies, as territories disputed by European 
powers, were conspicuous in the record of the eigh- 
teenth century, and before that they had for a century 
and a half been famous for pirates, innumerable harbors 
favoring the concealment of lawless wanderers; and the 
Spanish treasure ships were attractive prey. There were 
fierce hatred and jealousy of Spain by England and 
France, and it was their theory, as the Spaniards had 
not acquired through Columbus a title to the New 
World, that the commerce of Spain was to be appropri- 
ated by others whenever opportunity offered. The 
Spanish protected their ships as well as they could, and 
one of the lone-standino- orders was that vessels on their 
way from Mexico to Spain should stop at Havana ; and 
the situation of that city was so commanding, her 
growth was out of proportion to the general progress 
of the Island, and her relative importance steadily in. 
creased. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 33 

Some of the most famous British seamen were 
charged by the Spaniards with piracy, and their pro- 
ceedings were certainly rather irregular. 

The conquest of Havana, and other important points 
in Cuba, by the English, in 1762, was a striking feat of 
arms; and why they gave up the splendid booty within 
a year, has never been quite explained ; but it cannot 
be said the English did not get something for what 
they gave. 

It was from the French West Indies that the fleet sailed 
that helped Washington and Rochambeau at Yorktown, 
and caused the surrender of Cornwallis by beating back, 
after many broadsides, the squadron that sailed from 
New York for his relief and it was a marvelous com- 
bination to bring the French from Gaudeloup to the 
capes of Virginia at the same time that Washington 
marched away from the Hudson with his French allies, 
to catch the southern army of England betvreen the 
James and York rivers, where Cornwallis found him- 
self after his fiery march through the Carolinas. It was 
necessary to plan the outlines of this expedition in Paris, 
and the detail at Dobb's Ferry ; and at that time Paris 
was further from Yorktown, whether by way of New 
York or the Indies, than New York is now from Aus- 
tralia ; and this holds good if we omit the wires through 
which the nations talk between the continents. 

The French, during our war of the revolution, were 
strong competitors with England at sea, and indeed 
they never gave up the primacy of the ocean to the 
British till after Trafalgar, and they do not entirely 
believe it yet ; but Rodney won a victory over the 
French fleet in the leeward islands, almost as important 
as the last blow Nelson struck, and the splendid French 



34 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

armament that fought off the British from the capes of 
Virginia and made captives of a British army was no 
more. 

The presence of the British for a year in Cuba im- 
parted energy to the commerce of the island, and the 
labor of black slaves began to be productive of sugar. In- 
deed, slavery and sugar substantially came together, and 
Cuba received a large accession of valuable people from 
Hayti when the insurrections and massacres there rele- 
gated that supurb land a long v^^ay toward barbarism, 
with only the compensations of a rude form of freedom. 
At the turn of the centuries, when Napoleon shook up 
the nations, Cuba was faithful to Spain — becoming the 
ever faithful island — and when the Spanish-American 
empire fell into ruin, Cuba remained the last and richest 
of the gigantic inheritance bequeathed by the ItaUan 
navigator, who was rewarded by returning in chains 
from San Domingo, over the line on which he had sailed 
to make his immortal discovery. 

There were insurrections in Cuba in 1823, 1829, 1835 
and 1844, regarded with increasing interest and sym- 
pathy by the American people ; and in 1850 occurred 
the famous Lopez and Crittenden expedition. Narcisso 
Lopez was a native of Venezuela, who reached the 
rank of major-general in the Spanish army, married a 
wealthy Cuban lady, was detected as interested in an 
insurrectionary movement, and escaped to the United 
States, where he was devoted to plans for the liberation 
of Cuba, and, in 1850, sailed from New Orleans in the 
steamer Pampero with three hundred men. The second 
in command was a W. S. Crittenden, a graduate of 
West Point and Mexican War hero, though but twenty- 
eight years old. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 35 

There was hardly a pretense of disguise in our South- 
ern States, of the object of the expedition, and the de- 
tails of it were recklessly given, so that the Spanish 
authorities were warned, and as they knew Lopez 
meant to land in the eastern part of the island, letters 
were sent purporting to be from Cuban patriots, per- 
suading him to land in the western province, where a 
rising would be prepared to support him. 

Lopez fell into the trap. He stopped at Key West 
to take coal, and landed, as the Spaniards had planned, 
at Bahia Honda, and marched into the interior, where 
the insurrection was to take place, and Crittenden re- 
mained at the seaside as a base of operations. 

Hearing nothing from Lopez, and knowing, there- 
fore, his movement was a failure, Crittenden made a 
desperate attempt to escape in open boats, but was 
discovered and captured - by the Spanish Admiral, 
Brestillo. 

The United States consul was appealed to for assist- 
ance, but declined to interfere ; and did not even, it is 
said, visit the unfortunate men, because he was alarmed 
for his personal safety, and there was no doubt at all of 
the nature of the expedition. 

The proceedings were prompt. Crittenden and fifty 
men were shot in groups of six under the walls of Fort 
Atares, Crittenden refusing to kneel with his back to 
the firing party, according to the Spanish fancy, but 
faced them erect, saying he kneeled only to God ! The 
reports are, that the bodies of the victims were treated 
with frightful indignities. 

Lopez found some sympathizers, but there was no 
demonstration in his favor, as he had expected, and 
after two skirmishes, he surrendered, and was executed 

C-3 



36 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

with the garrote at Havana, not being permitted the 
death of a soldier. Forty-nine of his men were shot, 
and one hundred and six of them held in servitude, 
loaded with chains, seven months in Spain, 

This bloody business caused intense feeling in the 
United States, and the death of the gallant Crittenden 
was bitterly lamented and resented. 

Captain Joseph Fry,, of the ill-fated Virginius, is 
widely known as "The Cuban Martyr." He was a 
native of Florida, born at Tampa Bay, June 14, 1826, 
and was a confederate officer of high courage and ca- 
pacity. 

He was at Port au Prince, Oct. 7, 1873, with the Vir- 
ginius, and took on board war material, 500 Remington 
rifles, 600 sabres, 400 revolvers, and many other articles 
of unmistakable war material. There is no more 
serious question of the character of the expedition than 
of the nature of the cargo, though some of the men 
seemed of an irresponsible sort. While the Virginius 
was on the way to Cuba, the Spanish gunboat Tornado 
appeared, and Captain Fry attempted to return to 
Jamaica, and urged his ship to the utmost, burning fat, 
and firing up to such an extent that the pursuers in the 
night located the ship by the flame from her chimneys. 
The Vh'ginius and Tornado were built by the same 
British firm for blockade-runners. The Tornado proved 
the better boat on this occasion, and gradually came 
within range. Various causes were assigned for the 
failure of the Virginius to show speed, and there was a 
story of treachery, but as she had not been docked for 
fourteen months, and needed scraping at least once in 
six months, there was no need of treason in the engine- 
room to account for her capture. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 37 

There was a dreadful panic on the doomed vessel. 
The war material was lifted out of the hold by a crane 
and flung overboard, though there was enough left in the 
fragments of cases to show what the "merchandise " that 
was thrown into the sea had been. Many of the party 
opened their trunks, and threw away everything they 
regarded as suspicious, and the whole vessel was in 
wild disorder. The first shot from the Tornado fell wide, 
but the second struck the smoke-stack of the fugitive, 
and she was stopped, and surrendered, the captain pro- 
testing that his papers were regular, that the VirginiMs 
was " an American ship, carrying American colors and 
papers, with an American captain and an American 
crew," and that the passengers were going to Costa Rica. 
He, therefore, protested in the name of the American 
government against detention. The Spanish captain 
said the Virginius was " a pirate ship," and ordered the 
American colors pulled down and the Spanish colors 
run up — and it is said the lowered flag was trampled 
upon. 

The Tornado, with her prize, made for Santiago de 
Cuba, arriving there Nov. ist, and the fierce demonstra- 
tions of the volunteers alarmed Captain Fry, who does 
not seem until then to have realized his situation, and 
he is reported by his friends there to have said : "If I 
die, it will be for the Cuban cause." The court martial 
of those recognized as Cuban insurgents was a matter 
of form, and the decision that the prisoners must be 
shot to death was soon reached. 

The Spanish official report of the execution of the 
patriotic generals who were the leading passengers of 
the Virginius is the following : 
3 



38 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Santiago de Cuba, Nov. 4, 1873. 
To His Excellency, The Captain-General : 

At 6 o'clock this morning, were shot in this city, for being traitors to 
their country, and for being insurgent chiefs, the following persons, 
styling themselves "patriot generals ": Bernabe Varona, alias Bambeta, 
General of Division ; Pedro Cespedes, Commanding General of Cien- 
fuegos ; General Jesus Del Sol, and Brigadier Washington Ryan. The 
executions took place in the presence of the entire corps of volunteers, 
the force of regular infantry, and the sailors from the fleet. An im- 
mense concourse of people also witnessed the act. The best of order 
prevailed. The prisoners met their death with composure. 

"Burriel." 

There were a few friendly spectators at the execution, 
which took place in what was appropriately known as 
the " slaughter-house." Ryan wore a blue shirt with a 
silver star. The victims were shot in the back, and the 
bodies beheaded, the heads displayed on spikes, while 
the trunks were trampled by horses. A correspondent 
of the New York Herald, named George W. Sherman, 
was imprisoned four days for attempting to sketch the 
scene. The American consul attempted to protest, but 
was restrained in his house by a guard. One account, 
by an American present, says the people were not in a 
mood of noisy approbation, but were " excessively quiet." 

Then came the court martial in the case of the cap- 
tain and crew. The American consul saw Captain Fry 
— who was without delay convicted by the alleged court 
and ordered shot — make his protest, as a preparation 
for death ; and the captain signed it two hours before 
he marched to the "■ slaughter-house." It was Novem- 
ber 7, 1873. At 4 o'clock in the afternoon the con- 
demned officers and crew of the Virginuis were marched 
by fours to the shooting place, passing and saluting the 
American consulate, where the flagstaff was bare. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 4 1 

Captain Fry was of the last group in the procession 
and shot first, being the only man, though the soldiers 
stood only ten feet away, who fell dead at the opening 
volley. The majority of the condemned, as the firing pro- 
ceeded, were wounded, and killed as they writhed on 
the ground, the favored method of dispatch being 
firing rifles in the mouths of those who were dis- 
abled. The number killed was fifty-three, and ninty- 
three more were under sentence. Among the executed 
was the second engineer, who made a declaration to 
the Spaniards that he had meddled with the engine 
and caused the capture. He was marched with the rest 
prevent his comrades from knowing that he had been 
favored, and shot by mistake, making frantic protests. 
He probably had not told the Spaniards the truth, and 
got the just award for his treachery. 

At this time General Grant was President of the 
United States; General Sickles Minister to Spain ; the 
famous orator Castelar, President of Spain, and he, it 
is believed, ordered the execution not to take place; 
but, if so, the order did not reach Santiago in 
time. 

There came help, after the captain was shot with his 
crew, from an unexpected quarter, and the incident is 
the one gleam of white light in this dark chapter. The 
British steamer Niobe, Captain Sir Lampton Lorraine, 
ran in at full speed from Jamaica, starting in such a 
hurry she left some of her crew ashore, and the captain 
was landed in Cuba before his ship was anchored, and 
demanded that the massacre should be stopped. He 
claimed to represent the United States as well as Eng- 
land, it is said ; and he even threatened to bombard the 
city. His vigor caused a suspension of the sentences 



42 ~ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Still remaining to be executed, and the lives of the pris- 
oners not already put to death were saved. On his way 
home Sir Lampton Lorraine stopped at New York, 
where he was honored with an invitation to hold a re- 
ception, which he declined, and by way of saying to him, 
" You're a brick," a silver brick from Nevada was pre- 
sented him bearing this inscription, " Blood is thicker 
than water. Santiago de Cuba, November, 1873, to Sir 
Lampton Lorraine, from the Comstock Mines, Virginia 
City, Nevada, U. S. A." For some reason not clear, the 
House of the American Congress laid a resolution of 
thanks to Sir Lampton on the table. 

January, 1874, President Grant sent a special message 
about the Virginius case to Congress, noting that the 
ship was correctly cleared and had a right to fly the 
American flag, and that no " state of war existed." 
The Spaniards contended the Virginius was not entitled 
to the character given by her papers. By an arrange- 
ment, which General Grant said was " moderate and 
just," the vessel and survivers were surrendered to the 
United States and this was " calculated to cement the 
good relations which so long subsisted between Spain 
and the United States." The ship with the American 
flag flying was delivered at Bahia Honda, but she was 
unseaworthy and, struck by a storm on the way to New 
York, was sunk off Cape Fear. Her surviving passen- 
gers were given up to the United States at Santiago de 
Cuba, December i, 1873. 

There was a vast amount of feeling in the United States 
about the VirginitLs massacre, but the trouble was the 
technical rights of the Spaniards prevented any practical 
measures being taken to call them to account for the shock- 
ing barbarity of the wholesale executions; but the painful 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 43 

circumstances have been well remembered. It was the 
undoubted filibuster record of the steamer that caused 
the marked coolness of the message of President Grant. 
Captain Fry wrote a farewell letter to his wife the 
night before his execution. " Wherever," says the Bal- 
timorean, in first publishing this letter, "the story of the 
Virginius outrage shall go, the story of this letter will 
go to. It is a letter that many an eye will weep to 
read, and that any man at such an extremity might 
envy the power to write." 

On Board the Spanish Man-of-War, La Tornado. 
Santiago de Cuba, Nov. 6, '73. 
Dear, Dear Dita: — 

When I left you I had no idea that we should never meet 
again in this world, but it seems strange to me that I should to-night, and 
on Annie's birthday, be calmly seated, on a beautiful moonlight night, in 
a most beautiful bay in Cuba, to take my last leave of you my own dear, 
sweet wife! and with the thought of your own bitter anguish, my only 
regret at leaving. 

I have been tried to-day, and the president of the court martial asked 
the favor of embracing me at parting, and clasped me to his heart. I 
have shaken hands with each of my judges, and the secretary of the 
court and interpreter have promised me, as a special favor, to attend 
my execution, which will, I am told, be within a few hours after my sen- 
tence is pronounced. 

I am told my death will be painless; in short I have had a very cheer- 
ful and pleasant chat about my funeral, to which I shall go a few hours 
from now, how soon I cannot say yet. It is curious to see how I make 
friends. Poor Bambetta pronounced me a gentleman, and he was the 
brightest and bravest creature I ever saw. 

The priest who gave me communion on board this morning put a 
double scapular around my neck and a medal which he intends to wear 
himself. A young Spanish officer brought me a bright new silk badge 
with the Blessed Virgin stamped upon it, to wear to my execution for 
him, and a handsome cross in some fair lady's handiwork. They are to 
be kept as relics of me. He embraced me affectionately in his room 
with tears in his eyes. 



44 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Dear Sweetheart, you will be able to bear it for my sake, for I will be 
with you if God permits. Although I know my hours are short and few, 
I am not sad. I feel I shall always be with you right soon, dear Dita, 
and you will not be afraid of me. Pray for me and I will pray with you. 
There is to be a fearful sacrifice of life from the Virginius, and as I 
think, a needless one, as the poor people are unconscious of crime, and 
even of their fate up to now. I hope God will forgive me if I am to 
blame for it. 

If you write to President Grant, he will probably order my pay, due 
when I resigned, paid to you after my death. People will be kinder to 
you now, dear Dita, at least I hope so. Do not dread death when it 
comes to you. It will be God's angel of rest, — remember this. I hope 
my children will forget their father's harshness, and remember his love 
and anxiety for them. May they practice regularly their religion and 

pray for him always. Tell , the last act of my life will be a public 

profession of my faith, and hope in Him, of whom we need not be 
ashamed, and it is not honest to withold that public acknowledgement 
from any false modesty or timidity. May God bless and save us all. 

Sweet, dear, dear Dita, we will soon meet again. Till then adieu for 
the last time. 

Your devoted husband, 

Joseph Fry. 

The adventurous life and heroic death of Captain 
Fry, and his farewell letter, made a deep and lasting 
impression upon the American people and Cuban pa- 
triots, and his pathetic history is written in song and 
story. 

Major Moses P. Handy witnessed the surrender of 
the VirginuLs, going out from Key West as a stow- 
away on the Despatch, the vessel appointed to receive 
the surrender. The Major gives the following account 
of the newspaper men. 

Every New York journal sent correspondents to the front. The New 
V'ork Herald was represented at first at Key West by W. B. Stephens 
and Karl Case, who were reinforced by James A. Cowardin and 
" Modoc " Fox, and finally by J. A. McGahan^ one of the most famous 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 45 

of war correspondents, who came from the European station on one of 
our men-of-war, and Julius Chambers. The Tributie bureau was in 
my charge, and we also had Ralph Keeler at Santiago de Cuba and 
W. P. Sullivan, now a New York broker, at Havana; McGahan, Stephens, 
Cowardin, Case and Fox are now dead. 

The race between the correspondents for news was very hot. Every 
man as the representative of his newspaper was on his mettle, and enterprise 
was at a premium. McGahan had the advantage of being ward room 
guest on a man-of-war. Fox was paymaster's yeoman on the Finta, 
the fastest boat in the navy. When we learned that the Virginius was 
to be surrendered, we all realized that that event would end the 
campaign. 

The Despatch made for Bahia Honda. The circum- 
stances of the surrender are thus related by the major: 

It was about noon when we passed an old fort called Murillo, command- 
ing the entrance to the harbor. Speed was then slackened, and the 
vessel crept cautiously along the narrow, but clearly marked, channel 
which leads to the smooth water where the Virginius was supposed to 
be lying. 

As soon as the Despatch was sighted from the shore, the Spanish flag, 
bearing the crown, notwithstanding the republic abolishing that mon- 
archical emblem, was fl'ung to the breeze. We discovered a black 
sidewheel steamship lying about a mile beyond the fort. It was the 
Virginius. No other craft, except two or three coasting steamers, or 
fishing smacks, was then visible, and it was not until we were about 
to come to anchor that we discerned a Spanish sloop-of-war lying close 
under the shore, about two and a half miles away. 

Very soon a boat from the Spanish man-of-war came alongside of the 
Virginius, and immediately the Stars and Stripes were raised by Spanish 
hands, and again floated over the vessel which carried Ryan and his 
unfortunate comrades to their death. At the same moment we saw, by 
the aid of field glasses, another boat let down from the Spanish vessel. 
It proved to be the captain's gig, and brought to the Despatch a naval 
officer in full uniform who proved to be Senor de la Camera, of the 
Spanish sloop-of-war Favorita. He stepped briskly forward, and was 
met at the gangway by Captain Rodgers and Captain Whiting. After 
an exchange of courteous salutations. Commander de la Camera 



46 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

remarked that he had received a copy of the protocol providing for 
the surrender of the Virginius, and that the surrender might now be 
considered to have taken place. Captain Whiting replied that under his 
instructions the following day was named for the surrender, and that he 
could not receive it until that time. Meanwhile he would thank the 
Spanish officer to continue in possession. Nine o'clock on Tuesday 
morning was then agreed upon as the hour, and after informing the 
American officer that there was coal enough on board of the Virginius 
to last six days, .salutes were exchanged and the Spanish officer retired. 
The next morning, half an hour ahead of time, the gig of the Favorita 
came over to the Virginius. It contained oarsmen and a single officer. 
As the latter stepped on deck, a petty officer and half a dozen men, who 
had stood watch on the Virginius during the night, went over the side 
and remained in a dingy awaiting orders. At 9 precisely by the bells 
the American flag again flew to the flagstaff of the Virginius, and at the 
same moment a boat containing Captian Whiting and Lieutenant Marix 
put away from the Despatch. As they ascended the accommodation 
ladder of the Virginius the single man on deck who proved to be Senor 
de la Camera, advanced and made a courteous salute. The officers then 
read their respective instructions, and Captian de la Camera remarked 
that in obedience to the requirements of the government and in execu- 
tion of the provisions of the protocol, he had the honor to turn over the 
steamer Virgi?iius to the American authorities. Captam Whiting 
accepted, and learning that a receipt was required, gave one in due 
form. A word or two more was spoken and the Spaniard stepped 
over the side, signaled to his oarsmen, and in ten minutes was again 
upon the deck of his own vessel. Beside the surrendering and receipt- 
ing officers, I was the only witness of the ceremony. 

The Virginius was extremely dirty and in bad form, 
her engines disordered, and she was leaking. On the 
way to a northern port the ship foundered ; Major 
Handy says : 

It was the general opinion among the naval officers that the Sania 
had endeavored to belittle the whole proceeding by smuggling the 
Virginius out of Havana, by selecting an obscure harbor not a port 
of entry as the place of surrender and by turning the duty of sur- 
render over to a surveying sloop, while the Tornado, which made 




GEN. PEDRO cesPEDES. GEN. JESUSDEL SOL. 

THE VIRGINIUS MARTYRS. 



(47) 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 49 

the capture, lay in the harbor of Havana and the Isabella la Catholica, 
which had been selected as convoy, steamed back to Havana under 
cover of the night. The American officers and American residents 
in Cuba and Key West agreed that our government ought to have 
required that the Virginhcs should be surrendered with all the released 
prisoners on board either at Santiago de Cuba, where the Tornado 
brought in her ill-gotten prey and where the inhuman butcheries were 
committed, or in Havana where she was afterward taken in triumph, and 
greeted with the cheers of the excited Spaniards over the humiliation 
of the Americans. 

The difficulty the administration of General Grant 
had to respond to the public excitement about the 
Virginius, was the clear truth that she was, when cap- 
tured, engaged in an unlawful enterprise. 

Major Handy tells in this connection the story of the 
mysterious disappearance of Ralph Keeler, a magazine 
writer of celebrity, turned war correspondent, whose 
taking off the major charges to the Spaniards, saying: 

Keeler was probably dead at the moment when his instructions were 
filed in the telegraph office. He disappeared as effectually as if the 
earth had opened and swallowed him. How, why or when he died 
his friends never knew. It is believed, however, that he was another 
victim of the hatred which in those days inflamed the Spanish breast 
against every citizen of the United States. Circumstantial evidence 
indicated that he was assassinated by Spanish volunteers, and I have 
always thought of my genial and gifted colleague as one of the murdered 
Americans now vaguely remembered as the victims of the Spanish 
bloodthirstiness in the matter of the unavenged Virginiiis incident. 

There are many chances for the mysterious departure 
to the unknown of correspondents serving in the midst 
of the precarious conditions of civil war, but the mur- 
ders which the volunteers certainly committed were 
affairs of the streets, theatres or hotels, and lacked no 
circumstance of notoriety. There seems to be a blood 



50 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

madness in the air. In the late February in Havana a 
madman seized a rifle with sabre attached and assaulted 
a young" man who had asked him an innocent question, 
knocked him down and stabbed him to death with the 
bayonet, sticking it through him a score of times, and 
then cried, "Cable my queen that I have killed a 
rebel!" The statement that this murderer was insane, 
was distinctly in some sense true. 

It is not, we must say, a correct use of words to say the 
the United States was degraded by the Virginius inci- 
dent. In proportion as nations are great and dignified, 
they must at least obey their own laws and treaties. 
When Grant was President of the United States and 
Castelar was President of Spain, there was a reckless 
adventure and shocking massacre, but we were not de- 
graded because we did not indulge a policy of vengeance. 

LIFE OF CAPTAIN JOSEPH FRY, THE CUBAN MARTYR. 

BY JEAN IE MORT WALKER. 

On Santiago's placid bay 

The town of Santiago lay ; 

And in her walls a deed was done — 

The foulest e'er the sun shone on. 

O Cuba ! rarest, brightest gem 

That decks Atlantic's diadem ! 

O star of constellation bright 

That beams upon our ravished sight ! 

When yet the earth was fresh and young, 

And stars their matins scarce had sung, 

And still the heavenly echo rung. 

With lavish hand then nature flung 

A shower from her richest store — 

Which on her breast and brow she wore — 

Of gems that ransomed kings of yore. 

Which fell beside the western shore 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 5 I 

Of green Atlantic's swelling flood, 

And there began to grow and bud, 

Till soon was seen a group of isles 

Which wear their mother Nature's smiles ; 

Cherished and blest beyond the rest 

Of those who claim the mother's breast ! 

As parents still love most the face 

Where their own features they may trace. 

Of this fair islet galaxy, 

Which studs the fairy summer sea, 

Most grand of all, my theme is seen — 

Lo ! Cuba — great Antilles' queen. 

Here zephyrs whisper through the palms, 

With odorous breath of spice and balms ; 

The orange, rich in golden hue. 

Hangs ripe and tempting to the view ; 

The bulbul, from his fragrant nest 

Upon the green Acacia's crest, 

With quivering wing and swelling throat, 

Pours forth his rippling, pearly note ; 

And as he calls his absent mate 

From 'mid the stately feathery date, 

He weaves, with silvery voice and strong, 

For her a wreath of gems of song. 

Its massive elephantine leaves 

The staid banana here upheaves ; 

And far above the garden wall — 

Adobe-built, and stout and tall — 

Its verdant banners wave on high, 

In rythmic bend to zephyr's sigh ; 

While, from the distance-softened height. 

With vines and cocoa-plumes bedight, 

The mellow tinklings faintly sound, 

As though in light and fragrance drowned. 

The train, with bells and trappings gay, 

Toils up the steep and devious way ; 

While sauntering idly in the rear, 

Lags slowly the swathy muleteer. 

The warm, voluptuous tropic day, 

Which knows no fall nor year's decay, 



52 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

With sense-intoxicating power 
Bids all enjoy the golden hour, 
Unchecked by thoughts of future woe, 
Of blighting blast, or field of snow ; 
For here the summer knows no death. 
The gentle spring no dying breath ; 
No early grave ingulfs the bloom 
Nor hides their sweetness in the tomb. 
Like fair twin souls, from sin set free, 
And radiant in eternity, 
The favored children of the year 
All live and reign immortal here. 
Here find they what vain mortals seek, 
And that of which the poets speak — 
A heaven on earth ; 'tis here it lies. 
For them a mundane Paradise. 
Amid the scene depicted here. 
And mirrored in the waters clear 
Of Santiago's placid bay. 
The town of Santiago lay. 

A prisoner from his grated cell 
Looked out upon the briny swell, 
And in his breast an echo found 
For ocean's heaving, sobbing sound. 

" And as he watched the dying day. 
And caught the sun's expiring ray — 
He sat and gazed with yearning eye 

' Upon the soft cerulean sky. 

He saw Night draw her curtains dark 
O'er sleeping sea and anchored bark. 
The eyes of heaven — the gleaming stars — 
In pity watched him through the bars. 
He looked out on the glorious night 
And thought on Him — supremely bright — 
The Architect of skill divine 
Who did the starry dome design. 
Which roofs this balmy southern night 
Replete with incense and delight — 
Most grand that he has since his birth 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 

Beheld, and 'tis his last on earth ! 

But in this solemn, dying hour, 

He fears not death nor human power ; 

He looks his fate full in the face. 

Supported by his Savior's grace. 

Yet still his brave heart fondly turns 

To where his hearthstone fire burns. 

And where are gathered those for whom 

He'd laugh at danger scorn the tomb. 

He thinks of her — his bosom's wife — 

And of his children, more than life ; 

Regrets, for this alone, his end, 

That it with pain their hearts should rend ; 

And now, with heart still fond and true 

He writes his sad, his last adieu. 

The night is o'er, the morning breaks, 

But not a heart among them quakes. 

A martyr band, and he their chief. 

They stand unmoved by fear or grief. 

At sharp command the column starts. 

And on they move, those patriot hearts. 

With steady step, unblenchingeye ; 

Thus nobly move they on to die. 

And as they pass the Consulate 

Which marks Columbia's flag and State 

Though powerless to save him now, 

He greets it with a loyal bow. 

And now they reach a massive wall 

Where lies imbedded many a ball ; 

For other victims on this spot 

Have died beneath the murderous shot 

At the wall's base, a ditch their lies, 

Where drops the doomed one as he dies ; 

And here the hapless victims halt, 

And kneel beside the waiting vault ; 

The guard steps back — a breathless pause- 

A deadly aim each soldier draws. 

The signal comes — a flash — a roar — 

And Freedom's sons lie red with gore ! 



54 '^HE STORY OF CUBA. 

As Rachel, lone and childless left, 

And of her own by death bereft, 

Wept sore, and comfort still refused, 

Columbia ! mourn thy flag abused. 

Thy children bound by foreign chain. 

And by the ruthless alien slain. 

O, where those sacred ashes lie, 

Weep o'er the grave of noble Fry ! 

No more from out his grated cell, 

He gazes at the briny swell'; 

His children, wife, and native shore 

Shall see his loving face no more. 

His voice is now forever hushed, 

Quenched by the stream of life that gushed 

From out his body, wounded sore. 

But painless now forevermore. 

Shall butchers' scenes like these act still ? 
Insult our flag, our brethren kill ? 
From widows, mothers, stricken homes. 
From rural plains, from city domes, 
From friendless orphans' severed ties, 
From graves where buried honor lies, 
From north to south, from east to west, 
One answer comes — one sole behest : 
The answer will be verified 
When Freedom's banner, hailed with pride, 
Shall o'er the beauteous island queen 
Where now red murder's flag is seen 
And o'er bold Fry's forsaken grave, 
Forever in sad triumph wave. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 55 



CHAPTER III. 

ORIGIN AND CONDUCT OF CUBAN WARS. 

Spanish Passion for Cuba — Growth of Cuban War Spirit — The Ten 
Years' War Compared with the Present — Gomez and Campos in 
Both — Tacon's Tyranny — Slavery Abolished — "Book of Flood" — 
Edinburg Review on War of '68-'78. 

If has seemed that in proportion as the Spanish have 
lost their colonies their passion for Cuba grew, until 
latterly Spain has seemed to live and die for the island, 
and the more certain appears the drift of destiny and 
the logic of history, that she and Cuba must part, that 
they are of incompatible temperament and irreconcila- 
ble policies, the more fierce and relentless is the de- 
termination of the people of the Peninsula to hold the 
Cubans, at all cost, for all time, under their sovereignty. 
The danger of Spain in letting go is the extent to which 
she has committed her life to the contest. If she will 
perish with the departure of her possession, it must be 
so because she will have it so. 

Spain chose to selfishly use Cuba — to govern the Island 
through swarms of office holders, to arbitrarily order 
the course of her industries, and get the advantage of 
the products of the Island in the promotion of her own 
manufactories and commerce. She crushes manufac- 
tories in the Island that the sugar and tobacco money 
may go for the Spanish manufactures and the extension 
of the commerce of Cadiz and Barcelona. 



56 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Here are two capital mistakes, one political, the other 
economical, and between them is immense injustice and 
intolerable oppression. The favored culture of sugar and 
tobacco has also been fruitful of difficulties that first 
appeared in comparatively mild forms of disorder, 
until at last the question arises in the present state of 
the country, whether the liberty denied to petition, 
remonstrance, argument — to warfare within the lines of 
civilization — can be won by carrying fire with the 
sword, and rearing the edifice of independence upon a 
smoking desert. This is a great matter — whether the 
tree of liberty will thrive and bloom growing in bloody 
ashes ; and the stories of personal outrages and the 
romantic fictions, that are given to the world in the offi- 
cial reports of the Spanish Government, and in the gos- 
sip of the Cubans, that though full of true incidents is 
yet distorted and discolored, until the weariness of 
misunderstanding overcomes the faculties of persever- 
ance and discrimination, and so much is said that 
little is known — should cease to be of the highest 
interest. 

The present war in Cuba is the second and enlarged 
edition of that which raged from 1868 to 1878, origin- 
ating in the same grievances of the Cubans and the 
same abuses of government by the Spaniards. The 
ten years' war was of like character with this, in the 
conduct of hostilities, and the leading men on both 
sides in the two wars are the same. There were 
the roving bands of insurgents and pursuing columns 
of Spaniards a quarter of a century ago as now ; the 
same strong Spanish lines across the Island — the same 
deadly skirmishing and deadlier fevers — the same de- 
plorable incidents, exasperation and exhaustion. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 57 

Martinez Campos and Maximo Gomez were the 
great figures at thie close of that war as at the begin- 
ning of this, but there is the change always to be con- 
sidered that the area of strife is extended, and the 
.destruction of hfe and property has been vastly aug- 
mented. Then but three of the six provinces were par- 
tially laid waste, now the whole extent of the Island is 
devastated. There is about the same proportion of 
forces now as then. Both armies have in numbers been 
multiplied by three, and the insurgents have gained in 
confidence, and in the freedom with which they apply 
the torch. Then they were comparatively conservative 
in dealing with the plantations that they occupied — 
now, when they have traversed the lands that are the 
sources of wealth, they have become destroyers, until 
we may assume — indeed we cannot do otherwise — that 
the sugar and tobacco crops are at an end while 
the war lasts, and the whole country is frightfully 
impoverished, and seems falling into an abyss. 

When we consider how intense were the sufferings in 
the ten years' war, how numerous the losses, and com- 
pare what was done then with what is going on now, 
we cannot fail to see that this war is so destructive, so 
consumes men and money, and annihilates industry, 
that it cannot endure — that one year now is equal in 
extirpation of civilization and the consumption of 
all the resources engaged, to five of the long war ; 
and upon this basis of calculation we come to the 
conclusion that in some way the war has but about one 
year to run. 

Recently a Cuban sympathizer presented in a brief 
communication the corner-stone of the substantial 
Cuban grievances, as follows : 



58 THE srORY OF CUBA. 

Should the Cubans allow the grinding of cane and gathering of to- 
bacco, it would mean the exporting of that merchandise, amounting to, 
approximately, $80,000,000. It is well known to those who are engaged 
in the Cuban trade that about every dollar's worth of merchandise that 
Cuba exports finds its way back again in other merchandise from all 
parts of the world. This means that fully $80,000,000 of goods would go 
through the custom houses inwardly, leaving with the Spanish treasury the 
usual custom house dues on the same, which, for ten years previous to the 
present trouble, yielded $20,000,000 per annum. Here is just where the 
shoe pinches the Spanish foot. The destruction of the sugar crop, etc., 
thus means to the Spanish treasury a loss of between $20,000,000 and 
$25,000,000 instead of the paltry $450,000, as the Spanish minister 
would have the people of this country believe. 

A Cuban lecturer declares that Spain derives from 
Cuba from $50,000,000 to $60,000,000 annually, which is 
rather vague for business, and yet all the profit she gets is 
indirect, through the personal government carried on by 
transitory favorites, often both corrupt and incompetent, 
and if able and anxious to do well, subjected to a sys- 
tem of selfish extortion, far in excess of the resisting 
forces of individual integrity. 

In Clarence King's pamphlet, "Shall Cuba be free?" 
he very clearly sketches the first flagrancy of discordant 
relations between Spain and Cuba — the time in the 
administration of Tacon, sixty years ago. Mr. King says: 
"General Tacon was the instrument of Spanish greed in 
Cuba, a soldier of violence and ignorance, who came to 
the captain-generalcy embittered from a failure to 
encompass Spanish ends in South America. Tacon 
was a true type of the Spanish oppressor, born with a 
contempt for all other than force and hardened by the 
omnipotence of his Spanish commission." It was when 
this soldier was in full power that the news of the 
Constitution, proclaimed in Spain, reached Cuba, Sep- 




GENERAI, MARTINEZ CAMPOS 
Former Governor General of Cuba 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 6 1 

tember 27, 1836, and a movement was made by 
Cubans to secure their just share of the liberties ac- 
corded Spaniards, but Tacon ordered that there should 
not be the slightest change without his express orders. 
Now Tacon was serving under a royal commission 
that contained this language: "for the important end 
of preserving in that precious Island (Cuba) his legit- 
imate sovereign authority and public tranquility through 
proper means, has resolved, in accordance with the 
opinion of his council of ministers, to give to your Excel- 
lency the fullest authority, bestowing upon you all the 
powers which by royal ordinances are granted to the 
governors of beseiged cities. In consequence of this 
His Majesty gives to your Excellency the most com- 
plete and unbounded power." 

There was nothing that Tacon was not authorized or 
that he scrupled to do, and his action in putting his 
foot on the liberties of Cuba was confirmed by the 
Spanish Cortes in these terms : 

The Cortes, using the power which is conceded to them by the Con- 
stitution, have decreed: not being in a position to apply the Constitu- 
tion which has been adopted for the Peninsula and adjacent to the 
Ultra Marine province of America and Asia, these shall be ruled and 
administered by special laws appropriate to their respective situations 
and circumstances, and proper to cause their happiness consequently, 
the deputies for the designated provinces are not to take their seats in 
the present Cortes. 

The ten years' war in Cuba the more interested the 
United States because we had abolished slavery by 
the war process, and the same work was done in 
Cuba in the same way, only that the slaves were 
more active than with us, in the use of arms to 
secure their freedom. The Manifesto of the Cuban 



62 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

revolutionary party that has been most extensively 
circulated in the United States says that before the out- 
break in 1868, the reform party, which included the 
most enlightened, wealthy and influential Cubans, ex- 
hausted all the resources within their reach to induce 
Spain to initiate a healthy change in her Cuban policy. 
The party started the publication of periodicals in 
Madrid and in the Island, addressed petitions, main- 
tained a great agitation throughout the country, and 
" having succeeded in leading the Spanish Government 
to make inquiry into the economical, political and 
social condition of Cuba, they presented a complete 
plan of government which satisfied public requirements 
as well as the aspirations of the people. The Spanish 
Government disdainfully cast aside the proposition as 
useless, increased taxation, and proceeded to its exact- 
tion with extreme severity." 

It is not unusual as the present war is discussed with 
Spaniards, for them to admit that the Cubans, in 1868, 
had real grievances, and fought well, as they say, to 
gain a true reformation. The same men now affirm 
there is nothing honest in the present war to fight 
about. 

Mr. Clarence King says slavery was practically killed 
by the ten years' war, and "Campos only bound Spain 
to publish the death notice. The main concession for 
which the insurgents 'accepted peace was the promise 
of constitutional reform. As a matter of fact, there 
promptly followed four royal decrees as follows: June 
9th, entitling Cuba to elect deputies to the Cortes, one 
for each 40,000 people ; June 9th, dividing the Island into 
the present six provinces ; June 21, instituting a system 
of provincial and municipal government, followed on 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 63 

August i6th by the necessary electoral regulations. But 
the system was immediately seen to be the shadow with- 
out the substance of self-government. The Provincial 
Assembly could nominate only three candidates for pre- 
siding officer. It was the inevitable governor-general 
who had the power to appoint, not necessarily one of the 
three nominees, but any member of the Assembly he 
chose. But all this provincial machinery is in reality 
an empty form, since expressly by law the governor- 
general was given the power to prorogue the assem- 
blies at will. The deputies have never been able to 
accomplish anything in the Cortes. Moreover, the crux 
of the whole financial oppression — tariff, taxes, and 
absolute control and expenditure of the revenue — re- 
mained with Spain." 

The revolutionary manifesto says, the compact Spain 
proposed with the Cubans through Campos, the accep- 
tance of which closed the struggle — Campos duly re- 
turning to Spain and Gomez retiring to San Domingo — 
"was a snare and deceit." Cuba being "granted the 
liberties of Porto Rico, which had none," and the 
manifesto continues : 

" On this deceitful ground was laid the new situation, 
throughout which has run a current of falsehood and 
hypocrisy. Spain, whose mind had not changed, 
hastened to change the name of things. The captain- 
general was called governor-general. The royal de- 
crees took the name of authorizations. The commercial 
monopoly of Spain was named coasting trade. The 
right of banishment was transformed into the law of 
vagrancy. The brutal attacks of defenseless citizens 
were called ' componte.' The abolition of constitu- 
tional guarantees became the law of public order. 



64 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Taxation without the consent or knowledge of the 
Cuban people was changed into the law of estimates 
(budget) voted by the representatives of Spain. 

"The painful lesson of the ten-year war had been en- 
tirely lost on Spain. Instead of inaugurating a redeeming 
policy that would heal the recent wounds, allay public 
anxiety, and quench the thirst for justice felt by the 
people, who are desirous to enjoy their natural rights, 
the metropolis, while lavish in promises of reform, per- 
sisted in carrying on, unchanged, its old and crafty 
system, the groundwork of which continues to be the 
same, namely : To exclude every native Cuban from 
every office that could give him any effective influence 
and intervention in public affairs ; the ungovernable 
exploitation of the colonists' labor for the benefit of 
Spanish commerce and Spanish bureaucracy, both civil 
and military. To carry out the latter purpose it was 
necessary to maintain the former at any cost." 

The chapter of historical indictment of Spain, charg- 
ing upon her the blood of Cuba, that is most lurid is 
"The Book of Blood — An Authoritative Record," and it 
does not need that the words " Book of Blood " should 
be printed in red ink, as is the rule, to make it horrible. 
It, according to the title page, records " the policy 
adopted by modern Spain to put an end to the war for 
the independence of Cuba," and the date of publication 
is 1873, showing that it was issued in the midst of the 
ten years' conflict, and purports to give the earlier parts 
of the story of that protracted struggle. 

" The Book of Blood" opens with a reference to the 
Virginius massacre, and promises a rough sketch of the 
carnival of blood that took place " during the govern- 
ments of Generals Lersundi, Dulce, Caballero de Rodas, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 65 

Ceballos, Pieltain and, last but not least, Jovellar, those 
three last being representatives of the Spanish Repub- 
lic." This remark about the representatives of the 
Spanish Republic requires the comment that in the con- 
tests for liberty in Spain there has not been the brotherly 
disposition one v^ould expect in the inhabitants of the 
Peninsula to share with those of the Island, and the 
sense of wrong thus aroused in Cubans has been a very 
influential element in feeding the fires of insurrection. 
The bulk of the dreadful book is occupied with the 
names of the dead who have died for the cause of 
Cuba. The frightful lists have every appearance of 
authority, and are fortified by convincing documents. 
There is a reserve in paragraphs of the preface which 
is all the more startling because standing in the midst 
of denunciations without qualification. We quote: 

We adjoin a note of those delivered by the captain-general to the mili- 
tary courts as guilty of treason. We do not know the exact fate of those 
unfortunates. It is known, however, that many of them have mysteri- 
ously disappeared, and their families are sure that they have found an 
obscure grave in the burial grounds of the Cabana or El Principe. 

We do not pretend to give a table of the crimes committed in Havana 
and elsewhere, such for example as those at the theatre of Villanueva, 
the coffee house of the Louvre, the butchery of Cohner, Greenwald and 
many like cases: or the transcendentally treacherous killing of Augusto 
Arango under a flag of truce. Neither shall we attempt to catalogue the 
murders committed by the brutal soldiery in the country, the indiscrim- 
inate slaughter of defenseless men, women and children, the rapes, the 
obscene mutilations and the cruelties of every kind perpetrated in our 
unhappy country by the scourges of America: those are personal crimes 
which we do not deem just to charge upon a whole people. 

The " Book of Blood " claims for the Cubans all the hu- 
manities, and says that at the beginning of the war they 
took many Spanish prisoners at Bayamo and paroled 



66 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

them, but were rewarded by treachery and cruelty ; and 
the indictment reads : 

Meanwhile in all parts of the Island no Cuban taken prisoner of war 
was spared; to a man they were shot on the spot as so many dogs. 
Nevertheless, up to August, 1869, many Spanish prisoners of war were 
captured and not executed by the Cubans. 

Then the insurgent General Quesada, threatened retal- 
iation, and in October, 1869, when the war had lasted 
a year, and the Spanish adhered to the policy of shoot- 
ing prisoners, the matter was " brought to the notice of 
the Cuban leaders," and it was ordered that sixty-seven 
men who were in the Cuban army and had engaged 
in a conspiracy " to revolt under circumstances of 
peculiar atrocity" should be executed, and they "were 
accordingly executed." The conspiritors had enlisted 
with the purpose of turning over to the Spanish Gen- 
eral Puello the rebel chieftains. The official organ 
in Havana said: "Our officers and the Cubans compro- 
mised in the counter-revolution were shot, thus sealing 
with their lives their devotion to their beloved mother- 
country." 

It is necessary in this connection to give the cele- 
brated Valmaseda proclamation : 

Inhabitants of the country ! The re-enforcements of troops that I 
have been waiting for have arrived ; with them I shall give protection to 
the good, and punish promptly those that still remain in rebellion against 
the government of the metropolis. 

You know that I have pardoned those that have fought us with arms ; 
that your wives, mothers, and sisters have found me in the unexpected 
protection that you have refused them. You know, also, that many of 
those I have pardoned have turned against us again. 

Before such ingratitude, such villany, it is not possible for me to be 
the man that I have been ; there is no longer a place for a falsified neu- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY 6/ 

trality ; he that is not for me is against me, and that my soldiers may 
know how to distinguish, you hear the order they carry : 

I St. Every man, from the age of fifteen years, upward, found away 
from his habitation, (finca) and does not prove a justified motive there- 
for, will be shot. 

2d. Every habitation unoccupied will be burned by the troops. 

3d. Every habitation from which does not float a white flag, as a sig- 
nal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes. 

Women that are not living at their own homes, or at the house of their 
relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguani, or Bayamo, where mainte- 
nance will be provided. Those who do not present themselves will be 
conducted forcibly. 

The foregoing determinations will commence to take effect on the 
14th of the present month. El Conde de Valmaseda. 

Bayamo, April 4, 1869. 

Secretary Fish, in a letter to Mr. Hale, Minister to 
Spain, May ii, 1869, protested " against the infamous 
proclamation of General, the Count of Valmaseda." 
Diacio de la Mariana of Havana is quoted as saying, 
May 9th : 

" Said proclamation does not eve^i reach what is required by the neces- 
sities of war in the most civilized nations." 

There has been much bitter denunciation of Spain 
in the conduct of the Cuban wars, that has not had 
the vitality of the terrible preface of the " Book of 
Blood," because that which gives power to the volume 
is the astonishing array of specifications — names, dates, 
circumstances — furnished in many cases by Spanish 
authorities. 

The Edinburg Review of January, 1873, contains an 
elaborate statement of the grievances and hostilities in 
Cuba, throwing light on the long war, which is the pivot 
on which the histories of Cuban sorrows turn. The 
Review says : 



68 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The revolution in the mother-country in September, 1868, which drove 
the Bourbon dynasty from the throne, seems to have precipitated the 
insurrection in Cuba. It was natural that it should have stirred men's 
minds in the colony at a time, especially when all were looking forward 
eagerly to the inauguration of pojitical reforms, or to an attempt to 
shake off the pressing weight of Spanish rule. The first hope seems to 
have been that the new government would ameliorate the condition of 
the colony, in which still a not unimportant party clung to the desire 
for such reforms as would enable them to remain connected with the 
country of which they had so long formed a part. This hope was dis- 
appointed, and the insurgents did not wait long before they took action. 

The standard of revolt was at length raised by Carlos Manuel de Ces- 
pedes, on his estate of Demajagua, at a short distance from the town of 
Yara, in the eastern department. Cespedes was known as an able law- 
yer and wealthy planter, and he was not slow in attracting to himself a 
respectable following. At first he found himself at the head of but a 
small number of patriots, and all his more trustworthy slaves, the latter 
of whom he liberated on the spot. He was soon joined by his friend, 
Aguilera, and the two then decided that they would never abandon the 
cause until they had freed the Island from Spanish rule, and rendered 
it independent. Their army was small and ill-provided; at first it con- 
sisted of but 147 men, with but forty-five fowling-pieces, four rifles, a 
few pistols and the long country knives, or machetes, as their sole arm- 
ament. In three days the districts of Bayamo, Manzanillo, Jiguani, and 
Las Tunas joined the insurrection, and Cespedes's army was increased 
to the number of four thousand men; at the end of the month it num- 
bered over nine thousand. 

The first steps of Cespedes had been to seize the town of Yara. On 
the 13th, three days after the outbreak, the insurgents came into collis- 
ion with the government troops, and got the best of the encounter. On 
the 15th they prepared to attack Bayamo, an important town of ten thou- 
sand inhabitants. On the i8th the town fell into their hands, and Ces- 
pedes established in it the revolutionary government. The leaders had 
published at Manzanillo, with the date of October loth, a Declaration 
of Independence, which document runs as follows : 

In arming ourselves against the tyrannical government of Spain, we 
must, according to precedent in all civilized countries, proclaim before 
the world the cause that impels us to take this step, which, though likely 
to entail considerable disturbances upon the present, will ensure the 
happiness of the future. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 69 

It is well known that Spain governs the island of Cuba with an iron 
and blood-stained hand. The former holds the latter deprived of polit- 
ical, civil, and religious liberty. Hence the unfortunate Cubans being 
illegally prosecuted and sent into exile, or executed by military com- 
missions in time of peace ; hence their being kept from public meeting, 
and forbidden to speak or write on affairs of State : hence their remon- 
strances against the evils that afflict them being looked upon as the 
proceedings of rebels, from the fact that they are bound to keep silence 
and obey ; hence the never-ending plague of hungry officials from Spain 
to devour the product of their industry and labor ; hence their exclu- 
sion from public stations, and want of opportunity to fit themselves for 
the art of government ; hence the restrictions to which public instruc- 
tion with them is subjected, in order to keep them so ignorant as not to 
be able to know and enforce their rights in any shape or form whatever ; 
hence the navy and the standing army, which are kept in their country 
at an enormous expenditure from their own wealth, to make them bend 
their knees and submit their necks to the iron yoke that disgraces them ; 
hence the grinding taxation under which they labor, and which would 
make them all perish in misery but for the marvelous fertility of their 
soil. 



TO THE STORY OF CUBA, 



CHAPTER IV. 

SPANISH STORY OF THE TREATY OF ZANJON. 

Was the Famous Compact that Closed the Ten Years' War Fairly Drawn 
and Honorably Executed, or a Sham with Nothing for Cuba in it ? — 
The Side of Spain Set Forth on the Highest Authority, with Citations 
of the Reform Laws and the Liberal Autonomist Circular. 

The principle interest the ten years' war has for 
Americans, after the bloody chapter of the Virghiius 
Massacre, is in the nature of the treaty by which it 
was closed, and the extent to which that compact was 
observed or disregarded ; the good faith that was in it 
or was lacking ; its terms and the policy that was its 
consequence. This is but another way of stating that 
upon the fact of the nature and observance of the 
treaty of Zanjon turns the justice or the wantonness 
of the war now raging in Cuba. If that treaty was 
fair, if it was honest, and has been honorably observed, 
the Cuban insurrection was unwarranted ; if it was a 
cheat, and its administration a scandal, the insurrection 
was demanded, and, upon the presumption of Cuban 
manhood, inevitable. 

We have given the Cuban indictment of Spain on 
this subject, not in detail but in substance and full 
force, and that there may be fair play, we present 
the Spanish side, and are enabled to do it on the highest 
authority. We have from one in the confidence of the 
Spanish government and zealous and able in the de- 
fense of Spain — his country — this summary : 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. • /I 

Article 3d. The only political condition set forth in the treaty says : 
The Spanish government will promulgate in Cuba the laws in vigor in 
Porto Rico. Two months less two days after Maceo left Cuba, all the 
laws were enforced, and since then, following the pace of the liberal 
and democratic reform in Spain, both Cuba and Porto Rico are to re- 
ceive liberal laws exactly like those of Spain. The Island is represented 
by sixty-four senators and deputies, the enfranchisement being given 
to those paying $25.00 taxes down to those who pay only $5.00, until the 
Home Rule bill was voted just before the Revolution started. 

The Spanish minister recently communicated to his 
government the desire that there should be placed in 
convenient form, and translated into English, the text 
of the various legal enactments showing the true char- 
acter of the laws relative to Cuba adopted within the 
years since the treaty of El Zanjon, and the asssistant 
colonial secretary has addressed to His Excellency, 
Don Enrique Dupuy de Lome, a statement, from which 
we quote the essential points of the defense with which 
Spain confronts the public opinion of the world : 

STATEMENT BY THE ASSISTANT COLONIAL SECRETARY OF 

SPAIN. 

Since the conclusion of the peace at El Zanjon the political regime of 
Cuba has been entirely transformed, such full liberty having been estab- 
lished, and so generous a policy of assimilation having been introduced 
there, that no other example could certainly be cited of so much having 
been done by any mother-country for its colonies in so short a space of 
time. I say this in reference to the laws, and this, surely, has nowhere 
been more eloquently recognized than in the address of the Junta of the 
Autonomist party to the people of Cuba at the commencement of the 
insurrection. 

The law of July 4th, 1870, declared that children born after that date, 
of parents who were slaves, those who had already, or should subse- 
quently, reach the age of sixty years, and those who had served, or as- 
sisted, the troops during the insurrection in Cuba, were free. They all 
remained under patronage, the patron having the rights of a guardian 
C-5 



72 . TH£. STORY OF CUBA. 

until the emancipated person had reached the age of twenty-two years. 
In the capitulation of El Zanjon, the insurgents stipulated only for the 
freedom of those slaves who had served in their ranks. 

The law of February 13th, 1880, put an end to slavery in the island 
of Cuba, declaring all, without distincton, to be free. The patronage 
was to last for five years, and to be discontinued from the expiration of 
the fifth until the eighth year (1888), when it was to be entirely abol- 
ished. 

Two years, however, before that time had ejtpired, the negroes were 
set at liberty by the decree of October 7th, 1886, which declared the 
patronate terminated. The last vestige of slavery was thus obliterated. 

It thus appears that, in this highly important point, the laws enacted 
for Cuba granted more than had been called for by the capitulation of 
1878, and that what was offered by that instrument was carried out be- 
fore the time therein provided for had expired. 

CONSTITUTION. 

The Constitution of 1876 was promulgated in the island of Cuba on 
the 7th day of April, 1881. All public liberties and all the rights of 
citizenship were thereby granted to the island, and it is to be observed 
that this promulgation involved for the island the following essential 
change in its political regime : laws were thenceforth enacted for it b}- 
the representatives of the nation, whereas it had previously been gov- 
erned by direct x)rders from the crown. 

Since that time Cuba has been represented in the Cortes of the nation 
by its senators and representatives. 

The royal decree of October 19, 1888, provided for the enforcement of 
the law concerning criminal prosecution. In this law provision is made 
for a highly important reform, viz. : the institution of oral trials in pub- 
lic, which had very shortly before been established in Spain. 

Among the principal political laws whereby the principles of liberty 
inscribed in the Constitution have been developed, the following may be 
cited : 

By the royal decree of November ist, 1881 (Gaceta of November 
loth), the law of June T5th, 1880, was made to embrace the island of 
Cuba. That law regulates the right of meeting proclaimed in Article 13 
of the Constitution, every peaceful meeting being authorized, provided 
that notice be given twenty-four hours beforehand to the Governor of 
the Province concerning the place, purpose and time of the meeting. 




CANOVAS DEL CASTILLO, 
Prime Minister of Spain. 

ENRIQUE DUPUY DE LOME, ^ HANNIS TAYLOR, 

Spanish Minister to the United States. ^ '3) United States Minister to Spain. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY, 75 

The law of the Peninsula of January yth, 1879, was made applicable 
to Cuba by the royal decree of April yth, 1881, and when that law was 
amended in a more liberal sense by the law of July 26th, 1883, the addi- 
tional liberty thus provided for was extended to Cuba by the decree of 
November nth, 1886. The principle was maintained that the provi- 
sions of the common law are sufficient to punish offenses of the press, 
and that the ordinary courts are sufficient to take cognizance thereof. 

THE LAW CONCERNING THE CIVIL REGISTER, AND THE LAW 
CONCERNING CIVIL MARRIAGES. 

The former of these laws, which bears date of January 8th, 1884, and 
the latter, which bears date of November 13th, 1886, were supplementary 
in providing for the religious toleration which is proclaimed by the con- 
stitution in its nth Article. 

PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL ORGANIZATION. 

The provincial law of June 21st, 1878, and the municipal law of the 
same date, are organic laws. The colonial provinces were assimilated 
by these laws to the European provinces, for said laws were the same 
that were then in force in the peninsula. Representatives and town 
boards were provided for where only the historical municipalities with 
their alienable offices, and a whole regime of privileges had previously 
existed. The local services were placed in charge of the representa- 
tives. The services, included roads, canals (both for navigation and 
irrigation), provincial public works, works of beneficence and instruc- 
tion, together with the management of all the provincial funds. To the 
town boards were granted similar powers with respect to highways, sew- 
ers, water, markets, slaughter-houses, fairs, vigilance, guard duty, and 
municipal government. 

REFORMS IN THE RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. 

These reforms have also been extended to Cuba. Universal suffrage 
not having been granted, solely owing to the great difficulty existing 
everywhere where the negro race is in the majority, or where it may exert 
a decisive influence in elections. The law concerning voters in election 
for representatives in the Cortes, which was promulgated by the royal 
decree of December 27th, 1892, provides that every citizen twenty-five 
years of age, who pays the sum of five dollars in taxes to the State, 



^6 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

shall have the right to vote, and this right is enjoyed by negroes as well 
as white persons. All the quotas paid for various reasons are computed, 
and the sum thereof is that which serves as a rule in determining this 
right. 

In this law there are likewise provisions which secures the representa- 
tion of the minority in elections of representatives to the Cortes. This 
is a very important reform, and its extension to the election of repre- 
sentatives and members of town boards is one of the many reforms pro- 
claimed in principle by the "basis" of March 15th, 1895, the enforce- 
ment of which is now pending. 

The provisions relative to education form a highly important group. 

OFFICIAL EDUCATION. 

As long ago as 1880 autonomy was granted to the University of 
Habana, and such ample provisions were granted to it that but one uni- 
versity in the peninsula (that of Madrid) enjoys privileges equally great. 
The power to appoint both male and female teachers, up to a certain 
grade in the island, was subsequently granted to the rector of that uni- 
versity. Institutions of secondary education were organized in 1883, and 
high schools were organized throughout the island. Finally, in 1887, 
freedom of education was proclaimed to the same extent and in the 
same manner as in the peninsula. 

There is thus no reason in Cuba to complain of the illiberality of the laws. 
If there has been any shortcoming in respect to morals, the nation is not 
to blame; none but the colonial provinces are to blame for this; if we 
proposed to seek comfort in comparisons, it would not be necessary to 
look for them in South America, in the countries that have emancipated 
themselves from the Spanish mother-country, because examples (some 
of them very recent) of acts of violence, anarchy and scandalous out- 
breaks could be found in the States of the Union itself. 

In respect to another matter, a great deal of foolish talk is indulged 
in. From the statements of some people it would appear that Cuba 
does nothing but contribute, by the taxes which it pays, to alleviate 
the burdens of the peninsular treasury; whereas, in reality, just the 
contrary is the truth. The nation has, of late, guaranteed the conversion 
of Spanish debts in Cuba, which took place in 1886 and 1890. Owing 
to these operations, and to the fact that all taxes which did not 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. J "J 

have to be met directly by its government have been rigorously elim- 
inated from the budget of Cuba, it was possible to reduce the Cuban 
budget from forty-six and one-half millions of dollars, which was its 
amount at the close of the former war (for the fiscal year 1878-79), to 
a little more than twenty-three millions of dollars, as appears from the 
budget of 1893. 

The. financial laws have been assimilated, and if the system of taxation 
has not been entirely assimilated, this is because of the fact that direct 
taxes are very repugnant to the popular feeling in Cuba, especially the 
tax on land, which is the basis of the Peninsular budget. It appears, 
however, that our Cuban brethren have had no reason to complain in 
this respect. The direct tax on rural property is two per cent, in Cuba, 
whereas in Spain it is seventeen, and even twenty per cent. It is evident 
that every budget must be based upon something ; in Cuba, as in all 
countries in which the natural conditions are similar, that something 
must necessarily be the income from customs duties. Notwithstanding 
this, it may be remarked that in the years when the greatest financial 
distress prevailed, the Spanish Government never hesitated to sacrifice 
that income when it was necessary to do so in order to meet the especial 
need of the principal agricultural product of Cuba. Consequently the 
Spanish commercial treaty with the United States was concluded, which 
certainly had not been concluded before, owing to any fault of the Spanish 
Government, Under that treaty, the principal object of which was to 
encourage the exportation of Cuban sugar, which found its chief market 
in the States of the Union, many Spanish industries were sacrificed 
which have formerly supplied the wants of the people of Cuba. That 
sacrifice was unhesitatingly made, and now that the treaty is no longer 
in force, is due to the fact that the new American tariff has stricken 
sugar free from the list. 

Attention may also be called to the fact that the colonial provinces 
alone enjoy exemption from the blood tax, Cuba never having been 
obliged to furnish military recruits. 

The disqualification of the Cubans to hold public office is purely a 
myth. Such disqualification is founded on the text of no law or regula- 
tion, and in point of fact there is no such exclusion. In order to verify 
this assertion it would be sufficient to examine the lists of Cuban officers, 
especially of those employed in the administration of justice and in all 
branches of instruction. Even if it were desired to make a comparison 
of political offices, even of those connected with the functions which are 



78 THE STORY OF CUBA, 

discharged in the Peninsula, the proportion would still be shown in which 
Spaniards in Cuba aspire to both. The fact is that a common fallacy is 
appealed to in the language habitually used by the enemies of Spain, 
who call persons " Peninsulars " who were not born in Cuba, but 
have resided there many years and have all their ties and interests there, 
and do not call those " Cubans " who were born there and have left the 
Island in order to meet necessities connected, perhaps, with their occu- 
pation. This was done in the Senate, when the advocates of the separa- 
tion of Cuba only were called "Cubans," while those only who refused 
allegiance to the Spanish mother-country were called patriots. 

In conclusion, I will relate a fact which may appear to be a joke, but 
which, in a certain way, furnished proof of what I have just said. When 
Rafael Gasset returned from Habana, he came and asked me for some 
data showing the proportion of Cubans holding office under our Govern- 
ment. I asked him, as a preliminary question, for a definition of what 
we were to understand by "Cuban" and what by "Peninsular ;" he 
immediately admitted that the decision of the whole question was based 
upon that definition, and I called his attention to the fact that here, in 
the Ministry of the Colonies, at the present time, there are three high 
governmental functionaries. One is a representative from Habana, 
being at the same time a professor in its University, and another, viz., 
your humble servant, is a Spaniard because he was born in Habana 
itself. Is the other man a Peninsular, and am I not a Cuban ? 

GUILLERMO. 

Assistant Colonial Secretary of Spain. 

This has all the force and all the fault of an official 
paper, and is the most complete condensed presentation 
of the Spanish defense for alleged failure to comply 
with the obligations undertaken on behalf of the gov- 
ernment, when the Cuban revolutionary leaders gave 
up the fight in 1878 under the persuasion of Martinez 
Campos, and Maximo Gomez retired to San Domingo, 

The response to this elaborate citation of law is that 
Cuba got the show of power to protect herself, and 
Spain held the reality in the captain-generalcy with 
unlimited capacity for the exercise of all the potential- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 79 

ities of military despotism, and clung tenaciously by 
force of arms to the injurious political economy, that 
was the fatality in the case and with it all the dullness 
and selfishness of the Spanish system. There has been 
an improvement of legal phraseology, but the system 
is the same. 

We have from the Spanish minister, and state the 
origin of the paper that there may be no question of 
authority, a translation of the reform bill voted in the 
Cortes in Spain last year, and not inforced on account 
of the rebellion, "but which" his excellency says, "will 
be promulgated in the Island as soon as a part of it is 
pacified." It would seem from this that there is not a 
portion of Cuba pacified large enough to experiment 
with, and that is the fact, for the forces of the revolu- 
tion pervade all the Island outside the cities by the sea, 
those held by garrisons in the interior, and the camps 
and bivouacs of the Spanish troops. The Reform bill 
seems to have been an effort to do something with 
limitations that held hard to the old ways. 

There was proposed, as a measure of pacification — 
for the elements of the ten years' strife were manifestly 
mustering for another struggle — that there should be 
certain changes of importance, and a copy of the law 
from the Colonial Department of Spain is before us, 
beginning with this solemn official form : 

COLONIAL DEPARTMENT LAW. 

Alfonso III., by the grace of God, and by the Constitution, King of 
Spain; and, in his name, and during his minority, the Queen Regent 
of the Kingdom: 

To all those who may see and hear these presents, be it known : that 
the Cortes have decreed, and we have sanctioned, the following : 



8o THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Article ist. The system of government of the Island of Cuba, and 
its civil administration, shall be readjusted on the following basis : 

Basis I St. — The municipal and provincial laws now in foixe in the 
Island shall be modified in so far as may be necessary to the following 
ends : 

All questions relating to the constitution of municipalities, and to 
the aggregation, segregation and demarcation of municipal districts, 
shall be determined by the council of administration after considering 
a report made by the respective provincial chamber of deputies. 

The provincial law shall also be modified in all such points as this 
"basis" shall designate as coming within the jurisdiction of the Council 
of Administration. 

All questions relating to the constitution of town-councils, to matters 
pertaining to elections, competency of nominees, and the like, shall be 
determined by the provincial chamber of deputies. 

It will be observed that the word 7'eadjust is used as 
the key to the intention of this instrument. The date 
arranged was perhaps the most critical in the history of 
the Island — March 15, 1895. The war-cry had been 
"sent forth" February 24, 1895. 

In the Council of Administration, if anywhere, was 
the healing capacity for " modification " and " readjust- 
ment," and it was agreed that this council should be 
constituted as follows : 

The governor-general, whether permanent or provisional, shall be 
President. 

The governor shall appoint by royal decree fifteen councillors. 

The council shall have a secretary's office, with the personnel neces- 
sary for the transaction of business. 

Every member of the council shall, as such, have the right to vote. 

To hold the office of councillor, in addition to a residence of four 
years in the country, some one of the following qualifications is required : 

To be or to have been president of the Chamber of Commerce, of 
the Economic Society, or of the Planters' Club. 

To be or to have been rector of the university, or dean of the col- 
lege of lawyers of the capital of a province, for a period of two years. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 61 

To have been for a period of four years before the election one among 
the fifty largest taxpayers in the Island, whether on real estate, or for the 
exercise of a profession. 

To have exercised the functions of senator of the kingdom or dep- 
uty to Cortes in one or more legislatures. 

To have been once or more than once president of one of the provin- 
cial chambers of deputies of the Island ; to have been for two or more 
terms of two years each a member of the provincial commission, or for 
eight years a provincial deputy. 

To have been for two or more terms of two years alcalde or mayor 
of a capital of a province. 

To have been councillor of administration for two or more years, 
previous to the promulgation of this law. 

Whenever the council may deem it expedient it may summon to its 
deliberations, through the medium of the governor-general, the heads 
of the administrative department, who shall not therefore, however, 
have a vote. 

The council shall be composed, in addition to the above-named mem- 
bers, of fifteen councillors, elected according to the same census as are 
the provincial deputies. 

The council of administration shall decree whatsoever it may deem 
expedient for the conduct of the public works throughout the Island ; 
of the telegraphic and postal communications, both by land and sea ; of 
agriculture, industry and commerce ; of immigration and colonization ; 
of public instruction and of beneficence and health ; without prejudice 
to the powers of supervision and other powers inherent in the sovereignty 
reserved by the laws to the national government. 

It shall make up and approve the annual budget, making in it the 
necessary appropriations for the above-named departments. 

The administrative council, it will be seen, under 
this plan, must be composed of the official class, and 
fifteen members are appointed by the governor and 
a like number elected under restrictions, as in case of 
the provincial deputies; and the law that is the promise 
of liberty, if order prevails, provides — 

It shall be incumbent of the governor-general, as the supreme head 
of the government of the Island, to execute all the decrees of the council. 



82 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

There would not seem to be much danger that radi- 
caHsm could break forth in a council, constituted as 
we have seen, but the iron hand is nigh, as follows : 

Whenever the governor-general shall judge any decision of the coun- 
cil to be contrary to the laws or to the general interest of the nation, he 
shall suspend its execution and shall himself take such provisional meas- 
ures as the public needs — which would otherwise have been neglected, 
because of such suspension — may require, immediately submitting the 
matter to the minister of the colonies. 

If any decision of the council shall injure unduly the rights of any 
individual, those who by their vote have contributed to its adoption shall 
be held responsible for the indemnification or compensation of the per- 
son so injured by the courts, which shall have jurisdiction in the matter. 

The governor-general, after the consultation with the advisory coun- 
cil, may suspend the council of administration or without that reduisrte 
may decree the suspension of its members if there remains such mem- 
bers of them as shall be necessary to its deliberation: 

First. — When the council or any of its members trangress the limits 
of their legal powers to the prejudice of the governmental or judicial 
authority, or to the risk of a disturbance of the public peace. 

Second.- — For delinquency. 

And, in addition, that there may be no mistake as to 
the absolutism of the master, the "basis" proposes that 

When in his judgment the resolutions of his majesty's government 
might be productive of injury to the general interests of the nation or 
to the especial interests of the Island, he may suspend their publication 
and fulfillment, informing the minister concerned of such suspension 
and of his reasons for making it, in the speediest manner possible. 

To superintend and inspect all the public departments. 

To communicate directly concerning international questions with the 
representatives, diplomatic agents and consuls of Spain in America. 

To suspend the execution of capital punishment, whenever the grav- 
ity of the circumstances may require it, and the urgency of the case is 
such that there is no opportunity to apply to his majesty for pardon, 
after consulting with the advisory council. 

To suspend, after consultation with the same council, and on its 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. ' 83 

responsibility, whenever extraordinary circumstances prevent previous 
communication of the government, the guarantee expressed in Articles 
4th, 5th, 6th and 9th, and paragraphs ist, 2nd and 3rd of Article 13th 
of the Constitution of the State, and to apply the riot act. 

As the supreme head of the civil administration of 
the Island it shall also be in the province of the gov- 
ernor-general: 

To maintain the integrity of the administrative jurisdiction, in accord- 
ance with the ordinances governing questions of jurisdiction and powers. 

To promulgate the general orders necessary for the carrying out of 
the laws and ordinances, communicating them to the colonial depart- 
ment. 

That nothing may be wanting to make the domi- 
nance of the great office of the Island complete and 
conclusive, it is declared as if it were a boon for order : 

The governor-general shall be the representative of the national 
government in the island of Cuba. He shall exercise, as viceregal 
patron, the powers inherent in the patronato of the Indies. He shall 
have the supreme command of all the armed forces, on land and sea, 
stationed in the Island. He shall be the delegate of the minister of the 
colonies, of state, of war and marine, and all the other authorities 
of the Island shall be subordinate to him. 

It cannot occasion surprise in countries where the 
people have some authority that this programme was 
found unsatisfactory by those already rising in revolu- 
tion, because they regarded the treaty of Zanjon as 
administered, if not in itself, inadequate. 

And yet those who held in Cuba that Spanish rule 
there could be so liberalized as to make insurrection 
wholly without warrant, issued a circular, using this lan- 
guage as to the policy of reform of which we have just 
recited the remarkable limitations. 



84 THE STORY OF CUBA 

The Liberal Autonomist party having always condemned revolutionary 
steps must now condemn, and does so condemn, with a better reason 
for it and more decidedly, the revolt started on the 24th of February, 
when reforms had just been voted with the concurrence of our repre- 
sentatives by the Cortes, and the importance of these reforms can hardly 
be overrated. It has been recognized by all who give them a fair con- 
sideration, without prejudice or malice, and even by those who were 
fiercely opposed to them at the beginning. 

If SO much can be said of that which in the Ameri- 
can atmosphere seems so little — what objection can 
be made too strong to the forms of misgovernment 
that it was considered the decree of reform was to 
remedy ? 

In the Autonomist circular to which we refer, and 
which it is the Spanish fashion to regard as of the 
largest moment, the party much praises itself, saying : 

The Autonomist party condemns perturbation because it is a legal 
party that has faith in the means afforded by the constitution, in the 
effectual agency of work, in the indisputable force of ideas; and afifirms 
that revolutions, when not made under entirely exceptional circum- 
stances, produced only at long periods in history, they are terrible 
scourges, great calamities for civilized countries, which by means of 
peaceful evolution, of reform in fundamental laws, of progress, and of 
the presence of public opinion, succeed in realizing all their reasonable 
purposes, and all their legitimate aspirations. Moreover, our party is 
necessarily Spanish because it is essentially and exclusively autonomist; 
and colonial autonomy, which is originated by the reality of a colony, 
of its wants and peculiar requirements, implies the entity of a metropolis 
in the fullness of its sovereignty and historical rights. This is the 
reason why our party from the beginning did inscribe on its standard 
liberty, peace and national unity as its mottoes. 

Certainly this is a superbly expressed programme, and 
the Autonomists go on to say rebellion was threatening 
order and liberty, and had already (April, 95) — 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY 85 

Caused the suspension of constitutional guarantees, thus preventing the 
free use of rights we had obtained, so ample indeed, that the very pro- 
moters of disorder have been using them at pleasure in favor of their 
own purposes ; and we are not yet under martial law, with all its conse- 
quences, because the illustrious governor, who, in showing coolness and 
calm energy, is entitled to deep gratitude on the part of Cuba, has pre- 
served and communicated to the supreme government the confidence 
deserved by sensible Cuban people, and would not restrain public liberty 
to any more than a strictly necessary extent. 

In consequence of the rebellious outbreak, our constitutional rights, the 
value and effectual agency of which have been proved by the very seces- 
sionists in their unrestricted actions, always under the protection of laws 
that they were endangering and discrediting, are at present suspended 
and at the mercy of military authorities, now fortunately addicted to a 
prudent and humane policy. 

If the new regime adopted by the Cortes could have been established 
in full peace, and under the circumstances that were created in favor of 
concord and progress through liberty, it would have caused its beneficial 
effects to be felt immediately, preparing the way for further progress ; 
but it could never produce such results if it were established under the 
influence of anxiety, anger, resentment, and indignation prevailing in 
civil wars, or of renewed mistrust and suspicions. All work intended to 
obtain administrative, financial and tariff reforms, demand peace as a 
first condition, and it will have to be postponed for time indefinite. 

We had already secured the abolition of slavery, the rights insti- 
tuted by the Constitution, such as speech, free meeting, free associa- 
tion, free education and religion, in the same degree and with the 
same guarantees as in the Peninsula; public trial by jury, and civil 
marriage ; all the modern civil and criminal laws of the mother-country, 
a most important point to a people that had lived until lately under 
laws made before the present century; the abolition of differential and 
export duties, the reduction of over 35 per cent, of fiscal taxes, which 
had been increased in consequence of the last war; the public and 
official acceptance by all parties of a large portion of our administrative 
plan, and the abandonment of the useless principle of assimilation to 
adopt those of political individuality and partial self-administration 
whose normal development must lead to the full realization of our plat- 
form. And instead of these improvements and further progress that the 
country reasonably expects, what can the pretended liberators offer to 
us ? The horrors of civil war, the armed contest among the very natives 



S6 ' THE STORY OF CUBA. 

of the country, which perhaps in no distant time might become a strife 
of the worst description ; and after that, a more complete ruin and a 
fatal move backwards in the way of civilization. 

This document, in association with the programme of 
reformation which we have presented, is fully and fairly 
the Spanish case — the "readjustment" and the "modifica- 
tion" actually decreed. The representation of it at the be- 
ginning of the present war of which the liberal Autono- 
mists thirteen months ago said in the pronunciamento, we 
have quoted, "in faithful warning" to those committing 
themselves to the current of the revolution, was this: 

AH signs are leading to the belief that the rebellion, limited to one 
portion of the Eastern province, has succeeded with but few exceptions, 
in getting only those men who belong to the most ignorant and misera- 
ble classes, who are the victims of the lamentable want of advancement 
in which they were left to live in that fine section of Cuba as an easy 
prey for agitators, having no cohesion or discipline, for which reason it 
is expected that they will have to disband or surrender. To this end, 
will have co-operated, besides the forces rapidly accumulated by the 
metropolis, the sensible and liberal policy of the government and of its 
highest representative, and the general disposition of the country, indif- 
ferent to the satanic incitations of the stubborn, while loyal to their 
ideals of order, progress and liberty. It cannot be doubted that the 
pacifier to whose ability was due the re-establishment of peace, and of 
the constitutional regime in 1878, has come once more to solve the 
present problems in the same spirit of noble, righteous and generous con- 
fidence in the people. But in the present crisis, the same as in all 
others, it belongs to the people to make the greatest and most persistent 
effort, following the lines of that dignified policy and even acting in 
advance of emergencies, in order that peace be soon restored, that dis- 
agreements and diffidence disappear, that constitutional regime be rein- 
stated, and that the new administration system of the colony be inaugu- 
rated in the same righteous and harmonious spirit in which the two gov- 
erning parties of the metropolis bound themselves to maintain it, while 
we promised to abide by it if loyally respected. This is the only way 
to secure its fruitful and beneficial effects, and an eradication of abuses 
which are universally condemned. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 87 

The conclusion of this manifesto is in these stately 
terms : 

The Liberal party of 1868 retired and left its place to the revolution- 
ists of Yara, because after the reporting committee had finished its 
work, it was found that the legitimate expectations of said party had been 
frustrated and the most solemn promises of the metropolis had been 
postponed. The Liberal party of 1878 that, being more fortunate, has 
seen how those promises were kept, will not lower its flag or leave its 
place to those who come to spoil the results of our labor, to make us 
recede while on the path to calm progress, to ruin the land and to darken 
the prospects of our future with the horrible spectre of poverty, anarchy 
and barbarism. 

Havana, April 4, 1895. 

This manifesto, it should be specially marked, actually 
vindicates the war of '68-78, and claims the fair execu- 
tion of the treaty. 

The Autonomists have been disappointed, for the 
war has spread far beyond the bounds of former high- 
watermarks of insurrection — indeed, over the whole 
Island — and the great Pacificator has gone home con- 
fessedly beaten. The Liberal Autonomist party and 
all its policies set forth in this eloquent and plausible 
address have totally failed. 

This presentation of the alleged "readjustment" on 
which Spain relied for the Pacification of Cuba, and of 
the calculations of the necessary application of forces to 
produce order, are the more impressive because made 
from Spanish documents not yet familiar to the people of 
the United States, and they shov/ with greater strength 
than the stories of a thousand incidents of the horrors 
of the war, the causes of the prostration of the Spanish 
cause in Cuba. 

C— 6 



88 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER V. 

THE SPANISH WAR POLICY. 

The Way the Present War Opened and how it Progressed — Personal 
Characteristics of Prominent Figures — Campos, Weyler, Gomez 
the Maceos and Garcia— The War Shifted to the West End — The 
Prize of the Victor Praised in Proze and Poetry. 

General Martinez Campos had great celebrity for 
his success in closing the war of 1868-1878 by the 
convention known as the Treaty of Zanjon. He is 
conspicuous in the gallery of the captain-generals that 
is an attraction in the Spanish palace at Havana, and 
there his figure is slender and his attitude alert as he 
was twenty years ago. He was the first man thought 
of in Spain when the rebellion broke out in Cuba in 
February, 1895, to put it down ; but he found it a much 
more serious affair than he had before encountered, 
and he so far recognized the belligerency of the Cuban 
insurrectionists as to attempt carrying on war in a 
civilized way. The struggle gradually assumed far 
greater proportions than he had imagined possible, and 
his enemies charged that his tenderness in dealing with 
rebels was the great fault that filled insurgent ranks. 
That, however, was a gross injustice to a competent 
soldier. There is a great deal of intense politics in 
Havana, and soon all the politicians except a few mod- 
erates were against him. Then he was recalled, and his 
successor. General Weyler, is believed by all Cubans 
to have been indebted for the appointment to his rep- 




D. VALERIANO WEYLER. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 9 1 

utation for severity. Now Campos does not deserve 
his good name for benignity, nor Weyier the ful- 
ness of his fame for brutahty and barbarism. They 
have had a greater task assigned them than is under- 
stood, for the Spaniards have not reahzed that they 
have lost Cuba and that all the captain-generals hence- 
forth are foredoomed failures. The failure of Weyier 
must be swifter than that of Campos. 

The likeness of General Weyier is given in full uni- 
form with all his decorations. When he landed in 
Cuba, the cannon sounding, the flags flying, the brass 
bands playing, the sun shining, the Spaniards cheering, 
and walked in the street one block to the palace 
square through masses of people, guarded by firm lines 
of soldiers, he wore all the bravery that the picture 
shows, and, in addition, a sword and hat from which 
floated a tall and fluttering white plume. He had 
been told there was a plot to assassinate him at this 
time, but took the chances coolly. The Spaniards 
have had some experience of dynamite thrown by 
anarchists, and a bomb might have been hurled from 
a housetop or a window upon the new captain-general. 
The Cuban revolutionists declared they could not af- 
ford to do it, for if they became assassins they would 
lose the sympathy of all civilized people. In the pal- 
ace on business he is dressed with extreme simplic- 
ity, in black clothes with no mark of rank but a sash of 
red and yellow around his waist. 

Mr. Rappleye, an American correspondent, who 
added art as a pen painter to his news service, drew 
this striking personal sketch of the captain-general 
whose failure in Cuba will be one of the decisive 
features of the progress of the Island to independence : 



92 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

General Weyler is one of those men who creates a ftrst impression, 
the first sight of whom never can be effaced from the mind, by whose 
presence the most careless observer is impressed instantly, and yet, 
taken altogether, he is a man in whom the elements of greatness are 
concealed under a cloak of impenetrable obscurity. Inferior physically, 
unsoldierly in bearing, exhibiting no trace of refined sensibilities nor 
pleasure in the gentle associations that others live for or at least seek as 
diversions, he is nevertheless the embodiment of mental acuteness, 
crafty, unscrupulous, fearless and of indomitable perseverance. 

He is one of the most magnetic men in whose presence I have ever 
stood — yet not attractive. His overwhelming personality is irresistible 
— yet he is unpleasant of appearance. Campos was an exceptional man. 
Marin was commonplace. Weyler is unique. Campos and Marin 
affected gold lace, dignity and self-consciousness. Weyler ignores them 
all as useless, unnecessary impediments, if anything, to the one object 
of his existence. Campos was fat, good-natured, wise, philosophical, 
slow in his mental processes, clear in his judgment, emphatic in his 
opinions, outspoken and, withal, lovable, humane, conservative, con- 
structive, progressive, with but one project ever before him, the glorifica- 
tion of Spain as a mother-land and a figure among peaceful, enlightened 
nations. Weyler is lean, diminutive, shriveled, ambitious for immortality 
irrespective of its odor, a master of diplomacy, the slave of Spain for the 
glory of sitting at the right of her throne, unlovable, unloving, exalted. 

My journey through the forest of gold lace terminated before 
the closed door of General Weyler's official abode. There an adjutant, 
more bedizzened than the rest of the dazzling multitude, trod softly to 
the portico, gently opened the way, retired again without a word, and 
we were alone in the presence of the man. 

And what a picture ! A little man. An apparition of blacks — black 
eyes, black hair, black beard, dark — exceedingly dark — complexion ; a 
plain black attire. He was alone, and was standing facing the door I 
entered. He had taken a position in the very centre of the room, and 
seemed lost in its immense depths. His eyes, far apart, bright, alert and 
striking, took me in at a glance. His face seemed to run to chin, his 
lower jaw protruding far beyond any ordinary indication of firmness, 
persistence or will power. His forehead is neither high nor receding ; 
neither is it that of a thoughtful or philosophic man. His ears are set 
far back ; and what is called the region of intellect, in which are those 
mental attributes that might be defined as powers of observation, calcu- 
lation, judgment and execution, is strongly developed. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 93 

The grand old man of the war is Maximo Gomez, a 
man of the greatest mihtary capacity that has been dis- 
played in this war, and that will give him a permanent 
place among the great captains. He is, of course, 
charged by the Spaniards with selling out to them 
when Campos played pacificator at Zanjon, but his 
little farm in San Domingo and his wife and children 
earning their living as music teachers and seamstresses, 
while his son, at the command of the father, protects 
mother and sisters, and holds a clerkship, does not 
look like enrichment by bribery — to say nothing of 
returning to plunge again into war in Cuba against, as 
he well knows, tremendous odds. The year of the 
military life of Gomez, just closed, has been not only 
the most brilliant in his long life, but it will rank high 
as a series of military achievements in which great 
things were accomplished by small means. There is 
no praise of accomplishments in war more exalted 
than that. 

Before us is a letter, dated Manzanillo, March 12, 
1895, from Herminio C. Leyva to Bartolome Masso, 
showinor no less clearlv than the manifesto of the Lib- 
eral Autonomists the absolute assurance of speedy suc- 
cess, with which the Spaniards disregarded the lessons 
of the ten years' skirmishes without decisive results, 
and accepted the challenge of the Cuban separatists 
to another trial of arms. Now the separatists stood 
on the ground which we have shown from Spanish 
reports to be firm and well taken — that the alleged 
reforms, whatever they might have seemed as con- 
cessions and readjustments to the Spaniards them 
selves, gave the reformation into the hands of the 
official class, the primal curse of Cuba because foreign 



94 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

— and to the captain-general, shorn of no shred of his 
arbitrary power, but as always an absolute military 
despot. Leyva wrote to Masso : 

Before leaving Manzanillo, I want to make the last effort to prevent 
bloodshed amongst brothers. You are still in time to avoid it, and if 
you do not do so, every drop of blood that is shed will serve to stain 
your name in history. 

True patriotism, Mr. Masso, is like bravery, grand, sublime ; but just 
because both are really great, they should not be mistaken for rashness, 
as this would belittle them and even drag them about the ground. 

You are a man of intelligence and heart ; I am sure of it, even with- 
out having had the pleasure of your frequent society, and now appeal to 
those two qualities of yours, asking you to meditate and use them at 
least in favor of that large number of inexperienced Cubans driven by 
you to insurrection with a patriotic idea (this is evident to me) but under 
an impression that is entirely mistaken ; for the mothers of said men 
will in the future, curse your name when the present situation has been 
made clear to all, if you insist in leading them to a useless sacrifice, 
as the campaign undertaken by you, besides being quite unjustified, 
must now prove fruitless and even injurious to the happiness of our 
country. 

You may see, and I tell you so again, after our interview at " La 
Odiosa," that other provinces are not helping you ; on the contrary, 
they will oppose yours, for the country has already understood that 
Cuba's welfare is not to be secured by war, and as war would be a sort 
of political suicide, and there is no civilized country that will commit 
suicide knowingly. 

Moreover, think and consider that Spain has ample means to quell the 
revolt in a short time ; troops are coming from Puerto Rico, eight 
battalions have left the peninsula, and as many more as may be w^anted 
will come. 

The insurgents have no war material, and you need not expect any 
from abroad, I assure you. Then one half the number of men you have 
on the field are without arms, and will return to the towns as soon as 
the government troops begin operations against you. 

Julio Sanguily is a prisoner in La Cabana, Juan Gualberto Gomez 
surrendered, Yero is in San Domingo, Guillermon is ill with hemorrhage 
and surrounded by troops in the Guantanamo mountains ; Urbane San- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 95 

chez Hechavarria and two of his brothers are in Mexico. What can 
you expect under these circumstances ? 

So the time has come, in my opinion, for you to prove to the whole 
world that you are a true patriot, by laying down the arms ; a course 
that, far from discrediting you in politics, would exalt your name to the 
high position in which I wish to see it forever. 

We do not need to recite the contrast there is between 
this utterance of March, '95, and the leaves of history 
written in blood and fire, through the whole extent 
of the Island during the year following which wit- 
nessed the complete defeat and humiliating retire- 
ment of the Pacificator Campos ; and on the succeed- 
ing days there has been shown the discomfiture of 
Weyler who has, irrespective of all the stories of outrage 
and all the announcements of triumph, failed at a 
more rapid rate than his predecessor. 

The Maceos look so much alike, it is fortunate one 
wears a full beard and that the other does not. They 
are mulattos and full brothers, and Antonio is the cav- 
alry leader who has the greater celebrity, and, next to 
Maximo Gomez, the largest share of the glory of the 
war. It is understood to be the Cuban's best chance to 
strike for liberty when he is on a horse and has a 
machete in hand. Then he rides in for war to the 
knife, and that is the way the Maceos are fond of 
fighting. 

The Spaniards make much of the conspicuity of the 
Maceos, in the efforts to persuade people that the 
insurrection is an affair of black men chiefly, and means 
the conversion of Cuba into a larger San Domingo. 
The Maceos are said to be, and no doubt truly, very 
ambitious to advance the black race, and it is the Span- 
ish policy to counteract them by giving black men in 



96 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the Spanish army that sort of consideration that Mr. 
Lowell described in sketching Englishmen in their way 
with Americans, as a "certain condescension." 

It is believed the veteran soldier, General Calixto 
Garcia, who bears on his forehead a scar that shows 
hand-to-hand fighting with sabres, joined the Cuban 
forces in March, and it is considered that he is an 
accession of importance to the patriotic cause. The 
Cuban forces have in the ranks as brave men as are 
anywhere produced, but they do not have many gener- 
als of both experience and capacity, and there is no 
doubt of the warm welcome Garcia received when he 
joined the fighting men. 

The greatest surprise in the course of the war in Cuba 
is that the scene of it should have been shifted from 
the east end, which has long had the reputation of 
being rebellious, to the west end, which never, until 
after Maximo Gomez and the Maceos flanked Havana 
and entered Pmar del Rio, had been supposed to be ac- 
cessible to an enemy. When the central board of the 
Liberal Autonomists addressed the people of Cuba a 
year ago, opposing a resort to arms, they opened with 
the sharply defined expression of the confidence the 
partisans of Spain positively felt : 

Although the revolutionary onset is doomed to suppression — being 
already isolated and limited to our Eastern province, it has given rise 
to political and financial difficulties so serious for the present and for the 
future, that notwithstanding its lack of strength, it has succeeded in cre- 
ating intense excitement in the peninsula, and suspicious fears in the 
countries that have dealings with ours. 

It was the inability of Campos to justify this confi- 
dence that drove him defeated to Spain. The west end 




^^S" 



ANTONIO MACEO. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 99 

has become the seat of war, and there the Maceos have 
carried out the poHcy of devastation, ruining many of 
the finest plantations in the world. And then the in- 
numerable little islands southward, and the harbors, af- 
ford incomparable facilities for the filibuster, and there 
are ambuscades in the midst of a plenteous land for 
the insurgents. 

Thus is more than doubled by the invasion of the 
rebels, the difficulties and dangers to the Spaniards, of 
the enterprise of conquest they have undertaken. In 
a work on the " Pearl of the Antilles," written by Anto- 
nio Gallenga in 1873, we read of the war as it then 
raged : 

The Sierre Maestra, or main chain, running along the whole southern 
coast from Cabo Cruz to Punta de Mayzi, rises to a height of 8,000 
feet, /. ^., on a level with the loftiest Apennines. What culture there 
was in this region is rapidly disappearing. Many of the landowners, 
with such wealth as they were able to save from the wreck of their 
estates, have migrated to the United States, to Jamaica, or other British 
possessions; others have sold their slaves and cattle to the planters of 
the western, or Havana, department; and even in those districts from 
which, out of sheer exhaustion, the scourge of war has been removed, 
agriculture and industry find it difficult to revive, owing to the want 
of public confidence, as well as to the utter absence of capital and 
labor. 

The western department has remained untouched throughout the 
struggle. Havana has little reason to distress itself about the Cuban 
insurrection. This prosperous, pleasure-loving city can afford to make 
itself as easy about Cespedes and his rebels as New York ever was to 
the skirmishes with the Modoc or other Red Indians on the borders of 
the remotest territories, or Milan with respect to Pallavicini's attacks on 
the brigand fastnesses in the Basilicata. Indeed, as I have before hinted, 
the Havana people have had not only nothing to lose, but simply too 
much to gain, from the calamities by which two-thirds of the Island have 
been laid desola,te. 



lOO THE STORY OF CUBA. 

All is now sadly changed for the Spaniard, and the 
proud and brilliant city of Havana. The war has roared 
and flamed at her gates, and even her milk and water 
supplies have been threatened, and her vegetable gar- 
dens have been robbed by rebels, and the writer has 
seen half an hour from the great city the flag of the 
rebellion flying from a hilltop. It is by comparing the 
present conflict with that which was compromised eigh- 
teen years ago, that we can measure with an approxi- 
mation to accuracy the development of the insurrec- 
tionary movement. 

And we can hardly appreciate the passions aroused, 
if we do not bear in mind the splendor of the prize over 
which the bloody contention goes on. We read, in " Bal- 
lou's Cuba" (1854), before the habit of civil war was fixed 
in the soil of the Island and blood of the people : 

The virgin soil of Cuba is so rich that a touch of the hoe prepares it 
for the plant; or, as Douglass Jerrold says of Australia, " Just tickle 
her with a hoe, and she laughs with a harvest." So fertile a soil is not 
known to exist in any other portion of the globe. It sometimes produces 
three crops to the year, and in ordinary seasons two may be relied upon 
— the consequence is, that the Monteros have little more to do than 
merely to gather the produce they daily carry to market, and which also 
forms so large a portion of their own healthful and palatable food. The 
profusion of its flora and the variety of its forests are unsurpassed, while 
the multitude of its climbing shrubs gives a luxuriant richness to its 
scenery, which contributes to make it one of the most fascinating coun- 
tries in the world. Nowhere are the necessities of life so easily supplied, 
or man so delicately nurtured. 

The richest soil of the Island is black, which is best adapted to the 
purpose of the sugar planter, and for this purpose it is usually chosen. 
So productive is this description of land that the extensive sugar planta- 
tions, once fairly started, will run for years without the soil being even 
turned, new cane starting up from the old roots, year after year, with 
abundant crops. This is a singular fact to us who are accustomed to 



HER STRUGGLES EOR LIBERTY. lOI 

see so much of artificial means expended upon the soil to enable it to 
bear even an ordinary crop to the husbandman. The red soil is less 
rich, and is better adapted to the planting of coffee, being generally- 
preferred for this purpose, while the mulatto-colored earth is considered 
inferior, but still is very productive, and is improved by the Monteros 
for planting tobacco, being first prepared with a mixture of the other 
two descriptions of soil, which, together, form the richest compost, next 
to guano, known in agriculture. 

We should add to this the words of the poet Long- 
fellow, on the poetry of Spanish America, in the North 
Aniericmi Reviezu for January, 1849: 

Cuba, that garden of the West, gorgeous with perpetual flowers and 
brilliant with the plumage of innumerable birds, beneath whose glowing 
sky the teeming earth yields easy and abundant harvest to the toil of 
man, and whose capacious harbors invite the commerce of the world. 
In the words of Columbus, " it is the most beautiful land that ever eyes 
beheld." 

And the lines of James M. Phillippo, inspired by the 
Cuban sky, sparkle even beside the prose of a great poet : 

Ye tropic forests of unfading green, 

Where the palm tapers and the orange glows, 

Where the light bamboo weaves her feathery screen. 
And her tall shade the matchless ceyba throws: 

Ye cloudless ethers of unchanging blue. 

Save, as its rich varieties give way. 
To the clear sapphire of your midnight hue, 

The burnished azure of your perfect day. 



102 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER VI. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PRESENT CUBAN WAR. 

The Press of Cuba — Its Limitations— An Assault on American Senators 
— The Comic Style of Abusing Uncle Sam — Interview with Captain- 
General Marin — His View of the Zanjon Reforms and Rebel In- 
gratitude—Refers to the Ten Years' War and to the Robbers— The 
Retiring Captain-General does not get a Hearing in Havana. 

The journals of Havana are, under the pressure of the 
miHtary authorities, semi-official in their utterances. It 
is the theory of the authorities that the press of the 
great city of Cuba is unanimous in its attachment to the 
government, and the prevailing harmony of journalism 
is the subject of felicitation. Of course, the liberty of 
the Press does not exist under the conditions of martial 
law. Fancy a Cuban journal attempting to vindicate 
the rebellion — to praise the character of the leaders of 
it — to accuse the authorities themselves of high crimes 
and misdemeanors ! Such a publication would be a 
challenge to instantaneous and mortal combat, and the 
first issue of such a journal would be the last. 

In reviewing the speeches in the Senate on Cuban af- 
fairs, by Mr. Cameron of Pennsylvania and Mr. Call of 
Florida, there was an expression of a resentment in the 
journals of concord towards the public men of the United 
States, who presumed to espouse the cause of the revo- 
lutionists. The leading journal of Havana, the Diacio 
de la Maria7ia, treated its readers to a very abusive ar- 
ticle relating to Senators Call and Cameron, under the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. IO3 

caption " Blockheads." It had held Mr. Call as an in- 
vincible champion, but "there is always a match for 
every bully," and in the Senate there was " another ad- 
juster of foreign lands in the person of Mr. Cameron, 
who is shod and clothed, and we don't know if he gets 
any money, which vv^ould be hard to collect, from the 
Cuban filibusters." 

The Diacio, after some very personal observations, re- 
marked: " We will have to call the attention of the North 
Americans to the formidable invasion that idiotic politics 
has made in their parliament, if only that they may put a 
stop to the shamefully ridiculous position in which the 
Yankee legislators and their similars are placed before 
the eyes of the people who have sound and good minds;" 
and the able editor closed the instructive effusion by 
saying : " Spain is quite serene, but energetically dis- 
posed not to consent, that this or any other strange 
government, violating the laws of nations', shall try to 
mix in a matter so much our own as this w^ar of Cuba." 

The comic journals of Cuba are Spanish of course ; 
while the insurgents have no method of getting into 
circulation even their state papers other than such as 
Anarchists possess in Russia. There may be secret 
printing places, but that which is hot for the Cuban cause 
is usually in manuscript. One of the favorite themes of 
the cartoonists who serve the official class in Cuba is 
"Uncle Sam," and he would not be recognized, except 
by the stars and stripes with which he is decorated. 
He does not seem to be in any way related to our 
Brother Jonathan. He is a lank, elderly gentleman of 
breezy postures, with ample hair and slender limbs and 
disheveled coat-tails, or he is a very fat person, closely 
resembling a pig, always with stars on his hat and 



104 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

stripes on his stomach. The Spanish idea imparts to 
" Uncle Sam " a tremendous mouth with ample diges- 
tion, a bulbous, disreputable nose, broken teeth and 
bad manners towards colored people of both sexes. 
"U. S." is either conducting himself with familiarity 
toward a black woman, or handing a torch to a black 
man, bidding him go and burn canefields or houses, 
and he is doing this with a diabolical leer. 

This style of art is seen also in personifying insurrec- 
tion in a brutal black man whose lips are excessive, 
imposing his attentions upon a slender, graceful fig- 
ure — a young white woman who represents Cuba, 
and regards him with horror. A black man is always 
equipped with a knife with which he is assassinating a 
Cuban woman, or a big blacking brush with which 
he is supposed to be blotting Cuba from the map. 
This is of course an appeal to racial feeling, and 
indicates a degree of it one would not suspect from the 
ease of the black people on the promenades and in 
the various public functions of Havana life. 

The suggestion is of course that the rebellion in Cuba 
is going the way with that of Hayti, which resulted in 
the memorable desolation by fire and massacre. There 
seems to have been a time in the Island in the course 
of the present war when the crop of art w^as more 
extravagant than in the period when we gave it close 
examination, for there were several Uncle Samuels of 
more flagrant bad form and scandalous associations 
than any in recent issues of the Don Quixote — the old 
numbers being pasted on bulletin boards and hung up 
before shops to attract customers. Perhaps these were 
of the gentle times of Campos, of which so much is 
heard now that he is gone. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I05 

The newspapers of Havana have had a most precari- 
ous and hazardous field of enterprise, and it is due them 
to say that as a rule they are conducted with ability and 
dignity and are decent and make the best of a troubled 
situation. They are large, well printed, and display 
fairly the intelligence that is permitted to get into 
print. Their office equipment is good, and they have 
neither the remarkable merits nor faults of those whose 
enterprises are carried on with the scorching energy 
characteristic of American journalism. 

The restrictions that exist in Cuba to sending Ameri- 
canisms to America by telegraph have become tolerably 
familiar, and it may be interesting to illustrate the 
newspaper methods of the Spaniards to record an ex- 
perience in offering news to a newspaper of Havana. 
Captain-General Marin occupied the great office, 
after the departure of Campos, until the arrival 
of Weyler, and was so polite as to talk with me very 
freely and express himself in an interesting way. He 
stated the case of Cuba as he understood it forcibly and 
handsomely, and my report of the interview was cabled 
to New York just as it was prepared. A Cuban jour- 
nalist took a copy of it, and proposed to publish it in 
the paper to which he was attached, regarding it as 
a matter of particular interest. He was very glad, 
indeed, to get it, but it never appeared. Just as it 
was about to be given to the people of Havana, an 
unseen hand snatched it away, as if to yank it to 
oblivion. 

This talk of General Marin is valuable as the clearest 
and most consecutive statement that has been made of 
the claim of the Spaniards that they rule reasonably 
and are fighting in the cause of good government. 



io6 The story of cub a. 

The refusal to have this appear in Havana only in- 
creases its interest for the general public. 

When I was shown into Captain -General Marin's 
private room in the celebrated palace^ he came forward 
— a grave man with iron-gray hair and strong, kind face, 
and the interpreter gave him a flattering account of 
myself and friends, naming public men, saying I could 
be trusted with historical matters, adding that talking 
to me would be having speech, through the news- 
paper I represented, with the people of the United 
States, and that when I was in Washington city, a few 
days before, there was a general complaint that the 
actual state of affairs in Cuba was but indifferently 
known. The general had just come in from the front, 
and his first word was one of inquiry of what in par- 
ticular I wished to be informed, and was told that the 
people of the United States were deeply interested to 
know what the situation in Cuba was ; to hear upon 
responsible authority the cause of the rebellion and 
the extent of it. They felt that a crisis in the affairs of 
the Island was at hand ; they were interested to know 
his judgment as to the measure of success of his own 
campaign ; and, looking to the new administration as a 
transition, were concerned to have expressions as to 
the state of the country from the officer in command 
between Campos and Weyler. 

General Marin said he was pleased to have the op- 
portunity of talking to me, knowing that I was the 
representative of that part of the press which was seri- 
ous in matters of state in the States, and not of the 
press of a frivolous nature. And he recognized the 
United States as a great mass of serious people. Al- 
though he was very busy, he was willing to rob himself 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBER TV. IO7 

of some of his time to talk with one who would speak 
to the States. He said : 

As for the character of the war, it was not like any other contest. 
There was offered in it a chance for the mob to join a loose, undisciplined 
army of irresponsible disorderlies, and it was anarchy in a state of semi- 
organization converting the country people through terrorism into de- 
stroyers of property and into spies. It was so far anarchism as to pro- 
mote all devastation and fill the land with every form of violence and 
outrage. 

The country people at large did not fear the Spanish troops because 
they were disciplined and observers of the laws and of civilization, were 
orderly, responsible and humane. Consequently, the people were not 
frightened into giving information to the Spanish army, but they were 
compelled, through fear, to serve the insurgents as informers on the least 
provocation, or without any. The country people were accused by the 
rebels of loyalty to the government, and were abused, if not killed, and 
their property destroyed. When the insurgent forces arrived at a town, 
which they never held, they recruited all the idle and evil men, and the 
captain-general added that he was glad the good citizens did not join 
them. So much so, that he mentioned that the ex-rebel chief, Marcos 
Garcia, mayor since the last war of Sancti Spiritu, has not agreed with 
the insurgents who destroyed towns and scared the people by threaten- 
ing that if they allowed the garrisons to be in their midst, they were to 
be punished with fire and sword. Therefore, as the country was so 
large and the towns so distant from each other, it was a hard matter to 
garrison the places that needed protection, and at the same time put in 
the field large armies. 

The rebels had no responsibility for any such thing as civilization. 
They were the destroyers, while the Spaniards were the preserver^. 

It did not occur to a Spanish army, even when fighting in a foreign 
country, to destroy towns. The Spanish troops were always willing to 
fight and were always brave and had all the recources of an established 
government and were always in their place. They attacked the rebels 
wherever found and always beat them, though the insurgents often had 
the greater numbers. 

The rebels had the peculiarity of considering their retreats victories. 
They had no idea of war as an orderly business. Now, war was an art 
and the insurgents had no idea of it. They had no knowledge of the 
honor of arms. 
C-T 



1 08 THE STOR Y OF CUBA. 

Maximo Gomez tries to show the world that he is conducting a civil- 
ized campaign and does make a pretense as to somethmg of that sort 
after his own fashion ; but that is of little effect on the bulk of his fol- 
lowers, as such ideas as he professes do not get into their heads. 

Here the captain-general repeated that the rebellion was a semi-bar- 
barously organized anarchy, and that he was a man who respected ideas. 
In the last war or rebellion, when the best of the people were mixed 
in it, there had been an idea behind the attempted revolution, as Cuba 
had not then all the liberties Spain enjoyed. But for this war there 
was really no cause, and in his opinion Cuba was as free as any other 
country. 

She enjoyed a free press, representation in the Cortes, franchise, laws 
and an equal footing with the mother- country. 

Maximo Gomez, not being a Cuban, but a foreigner — a soldier of 
fortune — and Maceo, a mulatto with ambition and a purpose, were 
natural leaders of anarchism, with nothing to lose. 

The captain-general was asked if he could indicate what the policy 
of his successor. General Weyler, would be, and he replied the policy of 
the general would undoubtedly be one of great activity and energy ; 
that he would find much to do. He had himself initiated a policy of 
pressing hard upon the rebels with good effects. 

General Marin was informed of the anxiety in the United States about 
the probable duration of the war, and was asked if he could give any im- 
pression as to the time in which it might possibly be brought to a finish. 
It was stated to him also that his reply to this question would be re- 
garded in the United States as important. 

The General said a definite date for the close of the 
war could not be fixed, though there was no doubt in 
the world of the ultimate success of Spain in re-estab- 
lishing her authority all over the Island. "The trouble 
as to time was that after the last semblance of war 
had disapeared still the country would be disturbed by 
bandits, and it would possibly be found that getting 
rid of them would be tedious." 

It still seems curious that this moderate and clear 
exposition of the cause of Spain, eagerly sought for pub- 
lication by La Discussion, a leading Havana journal, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. IO9 

should have been suppressed in Cuba. One captain- 
general, however, differs from another in policy as in 
glory, and two days after the interview with Marin we 
listened to the thunders from the forts of the salutes 
that greeted General Weyler ; and Gomez was then so 
near Havana that it was said he could count the guns 
and interpret their dull boom quite as well as the 
Spaniards themselves. 



no THE STORY OF CUBA, 



CHAPTER VII. 

LEADING QUESTIONS OF RACES AND CRIMES. 

The Blacks as Soldiers and in Caricatures — Preoccupation on Both Sides 
in Cuba with the United States — Habits of Exaggeration — Governor- 
General Weyler Interviewed and Defends his Policy — Too Much 
Attention to Wild Stories — Brutalities of Bandits — The Machete 
the Sword of Cuba. 

Representations of blacks as the rebels-in-chief and 
cane-burning- demons with forked toe-nails, as they are 
constantly caricatured in the dreadful Spanish sheets 
alleged to be humorous, are not consistent with the 
professions of General Weyler, who has invited the 
distinction of treating black men with consideration. 
Negro soldiers are often on guard at the^ates of the 
government palace, and I have seen black workingmen, 
with personal errands, presenting themselves in their 
workday clothes at the door of the governor's reception 
room, and quickly admitted. 

When General Weyler was asked what his policy 
towards the negroes was, he said, " Just the same as 
to others." He was not favorable to discrimination as 
to color, and when engaged in the war of 1868- 1878 his 
cavalry escort was of black men, a fact, he said, "show- 
ing his esteem for them as soldiers." 

The combatants on both sides in Cuba are surpris- 
ingly preoccupied with the United States, dwelling in 
conversation upon the peculiarities of the people and 
the purposes of the nation. The Spaniards are not, as a 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. Ill 

rule, prepossessed in our favor, but irritated by the 
impression that we are a perpetual menace. They sus- 
pect when they do not know, that an American is a 
sympathizer with the Cuban rebellion, and if one of our 
people is strong in his Spanish talk, it occurs to the aver- 
age Spaniard that he is doing it with some selfish and 
probably deceptive and hostile design. The Spaniards 
are angered by the intense interest the Cubans take in 
what is going on in the United States. It is not per- 
mitted to give space in the journals of Havana to the 
proceedings of the American Congress that relate to the 
condition of the Island. One day there came, by way 
of Tampa and Key West, a Savannah paper, containing 
a column of information about one of the resolutions 
and discussions in the Senate of the United States. I 
was attempting to send by cable signed editorials eluci- 
dating Cuban matters, and proposed a reference to the 
contents of the Savannah paper, and to state the mis- 
apprehensions that all parties in Cuba entertained as to 
the true intent and meaning of what was going on at 
Washington. I should not have expected to be allowed 
to print such incendiary matter as this was from the 
government standpoint in a Havana paper, but could 
not see the harm of sending it by wire for purposes of 
journalism in New York ; and it did not occur to me 
there would be objection to the discharge of a high 
explosive at that distance from Havana, but there was. 
My disquisition did not depart from the " Pearl of the 
Antilles," and was lost to the North American world. 

There is something touching and pathetic in the cre- 
dulity of the Cubans regarding the matters most vital 
to them. I say Cubans without qualification, for 
they are all — with such rare exceptions, that we do not 



112 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

need to note them — against the continuation of the rule 
of Spain. Their distinctions are in degrees of des- 
peration. The present generation at least, has grown 
up in an atmosphere of rebellion, and politics means 
conspiracy. They have not lived generously on the 
news of the day, as the Americans and Englishmen 
and Frenchmen do, also the Germans, Austrians and 
Italians in a lesser degree, and their faculty of discrim- 
ination is not trained. The space that should be 
occupied exclusively by facts is largely reserved for 
fancies. 

I was present when some shocking news was told by 
an eye-witness, who had been personally engaged in a 
bloody affair, and there were those at hand filled with 
excitement, asking leading questions, when a cool gen- 
tleman, an American, with perfect command of the 
Spanish language interposed, saying : " Let us get this 
story as it is; do not try to get him to tell it any worse 
than it is; it is bad enough." Nothing can be stated 
too wild to find believers, and exaggerations are heaped 
upon each other until the truth is lost even in outline. 
A romance that the Spanish minister had used money 
to get up a riot in Washington found ready believers; 
so will the wild fancy that Senator Sherman was once 
in the slave trade ! There were full particulars one 
day of a furious engagement near Havana. There 
had been a heavy government train, so the tale was 
told, on the way through the disputed country, at- 
tacked and captured by Maceo, when a Spanish col- 
umn came along and the insurgents retired with cart- 
ridges and other spoil, but left thirty wounded in the 
hospital, all of whom were murdered ! All the details 
any one could desire were furnished. There was no 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. II3 

train, no fight, no murder — nothing at all! "Perfectly 
trustworthy " correspondence by secret lines of com- 
munication arrive stating highly important matters 
altogether imaginary. There is so much confidential 
information, " highly unimportant if true," that the 
human understanding is bewildered, and a great deal of 
it finds its way into print. 

The Cuban stories are rather more fantastic than the 
Spanish official reports. This is the result of military 
repression, with its smouldering hates and rivalries and 
jealousies, and the elaborate hypocrisies, the sinister 
finesse of malignant politeness — a part of the penalty 
of tyranny. 

It is the Cuban custom when stating the grievances 
that caused the war, to neglect the more substantial 
grounds of dissatisfaction with the Spanish form of 
government, and tell of personal affronts and outrages, 
and both sides are free in charging against antagonists 
the supreme crime of barbarous and fiendish treatment' 
of women. General Weyler has, above all, been as- 
sailed with accusations of brutalities that are incredible. 
It would be indelicate to hint the class of crimes that 
one is assured have more than anything else disting- 
uished his career, and the Cubans are surprised if you 
dare to doubt the authenticity of their animosity. They 
go on to implicate entire Spanish regiments in criminal- 
ities so hideous that to the sober understanding they 
seem preposterous; and yet are insisted upon to the 
last detail of infamy. Consideration for human nature 
invites incredulity. 

The Spaniards are equally facile in their accusing 
conversation, and with the list of offenses the Cubans 
charge upon them they return upon the Cubans ; and 



114 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the first thing in the indictment on their side, too, is 
that women have been abused. General Weyler in- 
vited questions and answered freely touching the tales 
told of himself. I do not refer now so much to the 
general tempest of detraction, but to the especial won- 
ders of cruelty; and he was fiercely earnest in denounc- 
ing all representations of his enemies as false, and said 
it was strange indeed that he should be attacked by 
the American newspapers for what he did not do, and 
at the same time those papers had only sympathy for 
the rebels who committed all they imputed to others. 
They were themselves the firebugs, the murderers, the 
destroyers, the ravishers; and the pretense of patriotism 
covered it all. He was charged with having dozens of 
prisoners shot every morning — the rifle firing heard 
just at day-break — a crash of rifles — a morning cere- 
mony — the bodies of the dead had been seen — the dis- 
position of the bodies had been made known! "All 
this was imposture and false entirely," said Weyler. 
"Why," said he, " Campos killed three and I have killed 
none ! not one ! ! And I shall kill no one unless it may 
be some guilty leader who has been proven to deserve 
death." 

I could not doubt the truth of what the captain-gen- 
eral told me about the killing of prisoners — for those 
who said there were dozens shot daily named no one, 
and could not tell what prisoners, if any, were missing. 
There could be no reason for shooting obscure men in 
secret save mere kilUng, and it has not come to that. 
The prisoner-shooting stories located at the fort were 
not so, and yet they turned up every day, always 
about the same. The foundation for the persistent 
rumor seemed to be that loaded rifles were discharged 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 115 

in the morning'. General Weyler said that not only 
had he not ordered any executions, when no one 
else had a right to do it, but he would deal severe- 
ly with officers who killed prisoners without his ex- 
press order. There have, however, since been execu- 
tions by shooting at the fort, not consistent with 
Weyler's statement. But one who meant to have 
men shot as a daily lesson would be very unlikely 
to assume the personal responsibility for the execu- 
tions and proclaim it to the newspapers of the United 
States and all civilized lands. The monster Weyler 
is said to be would boast of his bloody work — make 
a merit of assassination, never deny a crime, but 
with the fallen fiend declare : " Evil be thou my 
good." He has, however, the habit of the Island, 
of credulity that receives every tale of horrors commit- 
ted by the enemies as "the truth and nothing but the 
truth," and he confounds the sanguinary and incendi- 
ary incidents of the operations of the organized insurg- 
ents with the killings and robberies and burnings by 
the bandits — the bands of mere outlaws — who add 
greatly to the aggregate of the mysteries and miseries 
of the war. 

The general was asked of what military advantage it 
would be to the insurgents to be recognized as having 
belligerent rights, and he answered, "none at all," on 
the contrary they would have to stop their house burn- 
ings and outrages of women, and he intimated that 
was all they knew how to do. 

The Cubans have so strong a case against Spain of 
misgovernm.ent it is a pity to mar or shadow it by 
obscuring that which is substantial with clouds of 
romance. It is the misfortune of environment that 



Il6 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

they do so, but they think it is only self-defense for 
them to be as romantic as the Spaniards whose literary 
labors in preparing history for bulletins are as incessant 
as they are inaccurate and ineffectual. I happened to 
have information that was reliable of the preparation of 
one Spanish bulletin that was written four times before 
it was permitted to go, and it was not passed until all 
resemblance to the truth had been rubbed out. This 
peculiarity is not confined to Spanish official literature 
in Cuba. It is one of the familiar jests that, according 
to the bulletins, three times the number of insurgents 
engaged during the Carlist war were killed in action 
and counted dead on the field. 

Spaniards and Cubans do not do themselves justice, 
in the torrents of reproaches and accusations with which 
they characterize each other, and express the fierce in- 
tensity of the hatreds they have cultivated for genera- 
tions, and that are now inflamed to a degree unknown 
in former times. 

One reason for the extraordinary indulgence of ani- 
mosity, is found in the consciousness of all con- 
cerned, that the affairs of the contested island are 
in an extremely critical state, and that if conclusions 
cannot be reached, Spanish industries and the opulent 
commerce of the country will be totally destroyed. 

Those who have followed closely and intelligently 
such histories as are attainable of the course of events 
in Cuba, are informed that much importance is attached 
to the depredations of the bands of miscreants now 
haunting all the provinces, and whose occupation is 
simply that of murderous thieves. 

The fact that the Island is infested by these scoun- 
drels is not purposely made prominent by the combat- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. II 7 

ants, who are organized, bear arms and profess to be 
fighting in a civilized way. The Spaniards charge the 
outrages the vagabonds are guilty of to the rebels, and 
the rebels charge them to the Spaniards, and the whole 
truth is not mentioned on either side, for it would wipe 
away some of the bloody chapters of popular litera- 
ture. If a lot of fellows are found by Spaniards with 
telegraph wires around their necks, dangling to trees or 
telegraph poles, the cry is : " Here is evidence of the 
horrible barbarism of the insurgents. See what Gomez 
or Maceo have been about ! These are innocent men, be- 
cause they loved dear Spain ! " If the insurgents ride 
that way the suspended corpses naturally shock their 
sensibilities, and they point out the testimony that the 
" butcher and brute Weyler " has been having patriots 
murdered. The truth is that the ghastly spectacle 
marks the scene of the close of the career of some ban- 
dits, or means that the bandits have been assassinating 
some country people who were passing that way, or that 
hapless travelers have been massacred for their clothing 
or that which they might have in their pockets. 

Some of the newspaper men, in the days when they 
were occasionally permitted to pass the Spanish lines, 
made narrow escapes from robbers who have no senti- 
ments as to the dominion of Spain or the independence 
of Cuba, but have taken to the road to live by crim- 
inal courses, protected by the prevalent disorder. 
These wretches do more than all the troops in arms, 
however vicious and uncontrollable many of them are, 
to give the inhabitants of the desolated Island a bad 
name, and add the fame of frightfully evil deeds to 
the general disaster and augment to awful proportions 
the horrors of war. 



Il8 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Early in April there was news from Havana of the 
execution by the garrote of five men, and the cable, un- 
restrained this time by the censors, told of the terrors 
of the execution, and millions read the hideous story, 
believing that the ruthless Spaniards were putting to 
death, ignominiously, brave men whose crime was pa- 
triotism. In fact, the garrote was employed to strangle 
a group of murderers who engaged in robbing a farm- 
house, were taken red-handed and with the spoil they 
had gathered. 

It suits the Spaniards very well to say these men were 
rebel brigands, and it serves the Cubans a purpose in 
harmony with their passionate desires to admit the con- 
struction, that the Spaniards have been guilty of another 
massacre. 

The military conditions of Cuba unfortunately lend 
themselves to this sort of mutual misrepresentation. 
The columns of Spaniards and insurgents are in motion 
nearly all the time, and all the roads are unsafe, while 
many fugitives are fleeing far and near, hoping to find 
places of refuge. The brigandage that is rife all over 
the Island, save the towns, where there is at least mili- 
tary law, is one of the most deplorable of the misfor- 
tunes of the war, and will be of the lingering results 
of the struggle hardest to eradicate. Whether the Span- 
iards or the Cubans are asked, and the inquiry is inces- 
sant, how long the war will last, the answer from both 
sides is substantially the same. It is impossible to say 
how much time will be required to put down the gangs 
of robbers, as there is really no cure for them except to 
hunt them and kill them. 

The machete is the sword of the Cuban soldiers, and 
will be famous forever. It is not the delicate weapon 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 12 1 

sometimes pictured, nor the mere cane-knife that flour- 
ishes in the accounts of the warfare in "the Pearl of 
the Antilles." 

It is a heavy, straight sword, usually with a horn 
handle, and without a guard, with a fine edge on one 
side that curves to a point. The back of the big knife 
is square and solid, the prevalent idea that there is a 
double edge being an error. The scabbard is plain, 
firm leather, and the belt that supports it is, as a rule, 
narrow. There are competing machetes on the market, 
one made in New England and the other in Old Eng- 
land, and they are alike good stuff. The scythe-blades 
American farmers attach to a wooden handle, and call 
a corn-knife, closely resemble the machete in looks and 
use as an agricultural implement, only the scythe is not 
often straight, and the edge is on the inner side of the 
curve. 

The primary object of the machete is not cutting 
sugar-cane, as supposed by the average citizen, though 
it serves that purpose excellently ; it is in cutting paths 
through tropic vegetation. It is impossible to travel in 
an uncultivated part of Cuba, or along a narrow road, 
as most of the roads are, without something to cut away 
the shrubbery, the vines, the wild pine and cactus, and 
the thousand thorny boughs and bushes. The rebels, 
hastening across the v/ild regions, make way for them- 
selves with machetes, and the most effective stroke is 
upward, shaving away the prickly verdure, striking the 
dense, upreaching limbs as hedges are roughly trim- 
med ; and there is developed in this habitual hard labor 
wonderful muscular force and expertness in delivering a 
blow with the big knife, taking an ascending sweep. 
This weapon becomes perfectly familiar, and to save 



122 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

an excessive strain, it is keen as a razor and heavy as a 
cleaver. It is about the length of a dress-sword, but 
there is variation, according to personal strength and 
taste, of several inches, and that is not held important, 
for the knife is not used as a fencing-sword or a stabber, 
and is in no w^ay like the rapier, or the steel with which 
the Romans conquered the world by thrusting under 
their shields and upward with the heavy dagger called 
the sword of Rome. 

The Cubans handle the machete so constantly that 
they do -it gracefully and deftly, cutting open green 
cocoanuts with a single blow, and without spilling a drop 
of the milk or touching their fingers ; and, it is said, in 
battle the Spanish rifle-barrels are sometimes clipped 
off, while it is a common incident for a soldier to lose 
an arm at a blow. The most dreaded cut, the one 
when the blade rises — ^the same motion as in trimming 
thorn-bushes — is the more terrible blow because it is 
queer, and seems uncanny, and to be a diabolically 
cunning and tricky style of fighting. 

There is a peculiar, wild, shrill cry the Cubans give 
that announces a machete charge — a "rebel yell," sure 
enough, fierce and prolonged — and it means going in at 
the high speed of horses, for " war to the knife," and 
there is no doubt and no wonder that the Spaniards are 
alarmed always by that battle-cry. There has been 
more hand-lo-hand fighting in Cuba than in any other 
war of modern times. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I23 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE ORDERS AND ADMINISTRATION OF WEYLER. 

A Vigorous and Comprehensive Series of Orders, Declarations, Decrees 
and Commands, and Promises of Restoration of Order in these 
Provinces on the 15th of March — The Difference between the 
Proclamation and the Performance — The Weyler Administration 
Signally Fails — The Daring and Success of the Maceos — A Hard 
Blow at a Sore Time and Place. 

There has been world-wide controversy over the pol- 
icy of Captain-General Weyler. The universal Cuban 
view is singularly simple and radical. It is that Cam- 
pos was retired because he would carry on war with 
methods not inconsistent with civilization, and that 
Weyler was appointed to be barbarous. The definition 
of the truth about this is important, and the task of 
being- just one that is serious and almost novel, because 
on this point partisanism is at a scorching heat, and a 
spirit of moderation is denounced as treason to patriot- 
ism, or uniting disorder with cowardice. We have at 
hand a complete set of Weyler's orders up to the end of 
March, the first dated Feb. lo, 1896, and give such 
portions of them as are characteristic and have caused 
excitement and comment. That is to say, we produce 
the extracts that possess a degree of popular interest. 
The first of the Weyler orders, addressed to the in- 
habitants of Cuba, after a reference to " the difficult 
circumstances of the present time," concluded : 

I take charge of my duties with the expectation ever constant m me 
of preserving its possession for Spain, determined, as she is in this pur- 



124 THE SrORY OF CUBA. 

pose, to spare no kind of strenuous exertions, of which she is giving 
evident proofs. 

For the accomplishment of said purpose I rely upon the bravery and 
discipline of the army and navy, the unshaken patriotism of the corps of 
volunteers, and very particularly the true assistance that will be ten- 
dered by the loyal inhabitants, born here or in the peninsula. 

It is not to be said here, for you already know it, that although I am 
always liberal to the vanquished, and to every one who renders any ser- 
vices to the cause of Spain, I shall not be found wanting in determina- 
tion and energy, which are my characteristics, to punish with all the 
severity sanctioned by law those who may help the enemy in any way, 
or try to abate the dignity of our national name. 

Laying aside for the time being all political ideas, my honorable mis- 
sion now is to end the war, considering you only as being Spaniards, 
who will help me loyally to vanquish the insurgent ; but I shall be no 
impediment when her majesty's government, knowing what you are and 
what you deserve, and also the state of tranquility that may be attained 
by these provinces, grants to you, in due time, those reforms deemed 
proper in its estimation, doing this with the good will of a loving mother 
toward her children. 

Inhabitants of Cuba, assist me with your efficient co-operation, and by 
so doing you will protect your own interests, which are identical with 
those of the fatherland. 

Long live Spain ! 

Long live Spanish Cuba ! 

Your Governor-General, 

Valeriano Weyler, 
Marquis of Tenerife. 

Havana, the loth of February, 1896. 

On the same date there was an address issued to the 
volunteers and firemen — the firemen are a highly organ- 
ized and armed force — saying : 

It is gratifying to me to have been appointed yotir chief, for I meet 
again those volunteers and firemen who fought with me in the last war, 
and who, with their bravery, energy, and patfiotism, saved order, pro- 
tected the towns and villages, and contributed powerfully to preserve 
Cuba for Spain. 



HER strugglE:s for libMrtv. 125 

This was followed by an exhortation to continue to 
do well, and a promise of "perfect attention" to that 
which volunteers and firemen might do. 

In an address to the " Soldiers in the Army of 
Cuba," the captain-general paid, rather unexpectedly, 
this tribute to his predecessor : 

My hope is, that while under my orders, you will continue giving 
proofs of the courage and endurance which are peculiar to the Spanish 
soldier, and that you will win new victories, to be added to those ob- 
tained by you under the command of my illustrious predecessor, his 
excellency Captain-General Martinez de Campos. 

February 19th, the captain -general addressed the 
people, stating the fixed determination of Spain to 
" overcome the insurrection, and having referred to 
his " personal character " as an element in afi"airs, he 
added : 

It must be quite clear to you that the state attained by the insurrec- 
tion, and the incursion lately made by the principal ringleaders, in spite 
of active pursuit by our columns, are in some way the effects of indiffer- 
ence, fear, or discouragement on the part of the people, for it is hard to 
understand why some should remain passive while their plantations are 
set on fire, or otherwise destroyed, or how some Peninsulars can sym- 
pathize with the insurgents. 

It is by all means necessary to oppose such a condition of affairs, and 
to reanimate the spirits of the citizens by making them perceive that I am 
equally determined to tender efficient protection to the loyal and to 
apply the law with all its severity against those who help or exalt the 
enemy, or try to abate the honor of Spain, or that of the army of 
volunteers. 

Then it is also desirable that those who are on our side show their 
good disposition by their own actions in such way that no ground be 
left for doubts, proving that they are Spaniards, for the defense of the 
fatherland demands some sacrifice on the part of her children. 
C— 8 



126 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

An order appeared in which the general-in-chief of 
the army in operations assumed, according to the code 
of military justice, the judiciary authority belonging to 
his civil capacity, and this was therefore decreed : 

All prisoners taken by the troops during an engagement with the enemy 
will be submitted to summary proceedings, for which all judicial for- 
malities shall be avoided that are not absolutely indispensable to pass 
judgment. 

And the captain-general added the declaration : 

No capital sentence shall be executed until I have received the testi- 
monials of the sentence, which must be sent to me immediately, except 
when there is no communication, and the sentence refers to the crime 
of insult to a superior officer, or military sedition, which will be executed, 
afterward giving me information to that effect. 

February 25th there was a requisition for ten per 
cent, of the number of horses used for running cabs, 
stages and tram-cars. This, which had special applica- 
tion to Havana, to be executed immediately by a com- 
mittee of military officers. 

March 3d was issued a circular about the election of 
members of the new Cortes, whose functions commence 
nth of May next, and it was decreed that : 

In order that the next elections be made with complete liberty of ac- 
tion, and with total absence of anything contrary to the extant princi- 
ples of legality, you should bear in mind the following instructions, 
which I deem necessary to carry out what her majesty's government 
has directed. One of said instructions — perhaps the most important of 
all — is that you resolutely prevent any interference with the free will of 
the electors, and you will be entitled to the gratitude of the government 
if you use your prudence and diligence to realize that purpose, prevent- 
ing any possible violence or coercion being committed against the 
voters. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 12/ 

The captain-general earnestly recommended all offi- 
cers to " stimulate the electors to make use of this 
right," but " be sure that the authorities depending on 
the administration will absolutely abstain from exert- 
ing any action that may affect the independence of the 
voting," 

The election decree concludes: 

I trust that your prudence, tact and energy will cause the precepts of 
law to be respected by facilitating the freest use of suffrage, and not 
leaving unpunished any transgression that may be committed in refer- 
ence to the elections. 

However, there was no danger there would be a rush 
to vote the " ensuing May " anywhere within the juris- 
diction of the government against the government ! 

March 4th a long decree was issued stringently regu- 
lating the sale of petroleum, because the insurgents 
used it for incendiary purposes. 

March 8th it was officially made known by decree 
of the captain-general : 

That, after being pressed and defeated by our troops, the largest rebel 
bands that were in the provinces of Pinar del Rio and Havana are at 
present demoralized and moving east, for which reason now is the time 
to undertake an energetic pursuit against the small parties of bandits, 
rather than of insurgents, remaining in said provinces. 

Then followed elaborate instructions very carefully 
devised — the main thing being to reinforce the troops 
with the civil guard to stop the ravages by the rebels 
in the western province — a precaution that shows the 
captain-general was aware of the impending danger 
that has given him the gravest anxieties and inflicted 
upon the Spanish cause the most disheartening losses. 



128 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The decrees of the captain-general show the inten- 
sity of his temper — the emphasis of his method, his 
precision of phrase, and energy of expression, with the 
fixed resolution to be thoroughgoing in every respect. 
His appearances on paper are quite formidable, but 
the notice that the rebels were being hotly pursued was 
followed by an aggressive campaign by the Maceos 
in the western provinces, demonstrating the failure of 
the captain-general to enforce his authority even in the 
neiofhborhood of Havana. 

The captain-general addressed to the generals of the 
army corps, civil and military governors, and chiefs of 
columns and military commanders, the following severe 
instructions : 

The towns and villages must help in the work of their own protection, 
and see that no guides are wanting for the Spanish troops. They 
should also give all possible information in regard to the enemy, if they 
are in the neighborhood, and not let it again happen that the latter be 
better informed than ourselves. 

The energy and severity employed by the enemy will mark our own 
course of conduct, and in every case you will proceed to arrest and 
place subject to my disposal, or to submit to the courts, all those who 
by any of the orders which have been expressed, should help or show 
their sympathy to be with the rebels. 

After public spirit has been reanimated, you should not forget the 
convenience of adding strength to the corps of volunteers and guerillas 
that may be in the district, without failing to organize a guerilla band 
of twenty-five citizens for each battalion of the army, and to propose to 
me whatever you deem proper, directly or through the authority upon 
whom you depend, to realize my plan. But this should not lead you to 
consider yourselves authorized to decide anything which is not prescribed 
by law or by decree, unless it is urgently demanded by circumstances. 

I trust that you will abide by these instructions, and tender your 
faithful concurrence to the development of my thoughts, for the benefit 
of the Spanish cause. 

Havana, Feb. 19th, 1896. ' Valeriano- Weyler. 



H£R STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I 29 

This order was regarded by the Cubans, sympathetic 
with the rebelUon, as extremely menacing and vin- 
dictive, as it was plainly seen the purpose was forcing 
those most anxious to pursue a neutral position to take 
sides — with, if they acted according to their sentiments, 
terrible consequences to themselves. The news of the 
Weyler appointment had appalled the Cubans and those 
able to do so, and, unable to enter the insurgent army, 
were fleeing to Mexico by hundreds on every steamer 
while he was crossing the Atlantic. The declaration of 
February 19th increased the panic, and the public dis- 
tress was agonizing. 

Stringent decrees were at once issued threatening: 

All those who invent or propagate by any means, news which may 
either directly or indirectly favor the rebellion, will be considered as 
guilty of a misdemeanor against the safety of the fatherland. As is 
stated in Art. 223, case 6th, of the Code of Military Justice, inasmuch 
as they so facilitate the operations of the enemy. 

The propagation of false news was placed in the list 
of crimes with those of burning houses and destroying 
railroads and telegraph and telephone lines, and also: 

Those who consent to serve the enemy as guides if they do not report 
immediately to the authorities to show that they were compelled by force, 
or at once prove their loyalty by giving the troops any information asked 
of them. 

This touched one of the sorest points of the Span- 
iards, whose greatest and incurable trouble is, the 
rebels are constantly perfectly informed of the move- 
ments of the Spanish columns that have to grope their 
way, for, as a rule, the inhabitants do not tell on the 
insurgents and are vigilant and untiring to report all 
the activities of the Spaniards. 



130 TtiE STORY OF CUSA. 

The rigor of the mihtary law was applied " to those 
who by means of carrier pigeons, rockets or other sig- 
nals, send news to the enemy." And in such cases the 
captain-general said that capital punishment or prison 
for life " be applicable by law, shall be tried in sum- 
mary proceedings." The Spaniards attached much 
importance to the use of carrier pigeons, though they 
could hardly have done more than suggest possibilities 
of furtive communication. 

This following command caused a great sensation : 

All rural inhabitants of the Sancti Spiritus district and of the province 
of Puerto Principe and Santiago de Cuba, will make their concentration 
at the towns having any division, brigade, column, or other troops of 
the army, and then get documents of personal guarantee, within eight 
days after the present decree has been at the nearest township. 

Most rigorous regulations as to "passes" in the 
country were proclaimed, and it was ordered that : 

Storekeepers established out in the country will empty their shops, 
and the chiefs of columns will take such steps as may favor the success 
of operations in regard to buildings or other property, which while not 
being of considerable value, may afford shelter to the rebels in the in- 
terior of the woods or on the open country. 

The country stores were ordered to be emptied, be- 
cause they were a great resource for the rebels. 

Conceding the -vigor of the orders of the captain-gen- 
eral, and the intimate knowledge they show of the state 
of the Island, as well as his keen general intelligence, 
we have to announce that the failure of his administra- 
tion was early declared by events that were unavoidable. 

He was forced to reply to the sugar makers, who 
called and begged to know when they could grind cane. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY, 131 

Of course he was confident, as ever Campos was, that 
he could soon accompHsh great results, and, at least, 
speedily restore order in part of the Island. It was his 
policy first to find the army, for he said Campos had 
attempted to get along without a chief-of-staff, and had 
not kept books, so there were many troops missing. 
This had caused the rumor to go far that 15,000 Spanish 
soldiers had disappeared. 

" Aha !" said some Cubans, " they have come over to 
us;" and "Aha!" said others, "they are dead, or they 
are fraud soldiers put on the roll to steal with ! " But 
Campos had not kept books, and Weyler found the 
missing men. There were also reinforcements sent to 
arrive in time to support him, and it was his policy 
to press the insurgents to the utmost. He did not spare 
orders to rush the troops into action, and thought for a 
time his ideas were being carried out hopefully. He 
pointed out on his maps where his columns had the 
main forces of the rebels surrounded, and later he had 
them " more surrounded." He had them moving east, 
and he was overtaking them. " See here," said he, point- 
ing to the centre of the province of Pinar del Rio, south- 
west of Havana, "they were, and, here," sweeping his 
hand along the map eastward far as southeast Matan- 
zas, "they are ; and they must go further." They were 
bound for the woods of Santa Clara, he said. 

This was his state of mind, and apparently the mili- 
tary situation, when the sugar planters called and 
wanted to know what they could depend upon. It was 
an all-important question. If the Spanish government 
could not protect the sugar interest, the Island ceased 
to be of value, and was no longer, in a commercial sense, 
worth holding. It was not a cjuestion of the direct tax- 



132 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

ation on sugar, but of the trade of the Island — the 
shipment of nearly one million tons of sugar, to pay for 
the imports on which the duties were laid amounting to 
eighteen million dollars a year. The captain-general 
hesitated, but pressed for a business reply, and feeUng 
some of the confidence he desired to inspire, he ven- 
tured to say, he could promise that by the 15th of 
March they might count upon it that cane grinding 
would be safe in the three western provinces, and he 
hoped also in a part of Santa Clara ! This was very 
satisfactory, and published, produced surprise and 
cheerfulness. Why, of course, if that was all there was 
of the rebellion, it would soon be over ! The captain- 
general, to do him justice, had to hedge a little. He 
said the sugar men were too enthusiastic ; he was not 
quite certain, but he was greatly and confidently expect- 
ant that he would have three provinces, and, possibly, 
part of another, in order by the middle of March. The 
promise, however, that sugar should be ground safely 
all over the west end by March 15th was fixed 
in the public mind, and regarded as a test of the 
comparative power of the contending forces to manifest 
themselves in the open country. The Spaniards were 
assaulting the insurgents, who were large bodies of 
marauders roving about, using incendiarism and the 
terrorism of robbery and murder to compel the secret 
service of the country people — who would be good 
Spaniards if it were not that they were in fear, and 
caused by panic to be criminals. All that was required 
was a strong head and heart and hand, such as Weyler 
possessed, and the legitimate authorities would soon 
regain their accustomed and ancient sway ! 

On the other hand, the rebels had to say that they 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 135 

actually held all the Island but the seaside towns under 
the guns of ships of war, and the garrisoned places ; 
and all the garrisoned towns were substantially be- 
sieged. The sugar and tobacco interests were for the 
time destroyed, and would not be allowed to revive 
while they were sources of Spanish revenue. Now this 
was not a matter of contention between the official bul- 
letins and the Tampa and Key West grapevine dis- 
patches, over the results of skirmishes here and there 
in "the woods." This was a large matter and some- 
thing positive. It was business. There was a time 
fixed in which something palpable was to be done. 
Whichever way the fortunes of the miserable war should 
decide the answer to be, there could be no doubt as 
to the material and determining- fact. There was exul- 
tation among the insurgents that their enemy had 
invited so conspicuous a trial of strength, at a time and 
place and in a way, too, that gave them advantages. 
At this moment the armies of Gomez and Maceo had 
passed the fanciful line of the Spaniards and were 
going east, and the friendly intelligence from their col- 
umns was that they could not get Cubans to fight 
a great battle, and were sorely troubled by the care of 
wounded men, and had upon the whole to get away 
from the hotly contested places and go into retirement 
in the fastnesses of the forests and swamps and moun- 
tains, to see what the rainy season would do for them ! 
There was the regular report that Gomez was broken 
down and thinking of trying to escape from the Island 
to his home in San Domingo, and that the Maceos were 
his rearguard. They were to be regarded as fortunate 
to have crossed " the trochu ! " 

The first act of desperate warfare was the hanging of 



136 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

a Spanish planter near Havana, who had been guilty of 
carrying on farming operations without concern as 
to the insurgent policy. He was killed, and his cane 
burnt, and it was proclaimed the act of a small band of 
desperados left behind for acts of assassination, arson, 
and robbery to keep up a sham of warfare and frighten 
the timid. The work of destruction was carried on, 
however, and when the fateful 15th of March had 
passed it was demonstrated that sugar making was at 
an end. There was not a district in the Island in which 
it was safe to " grind." In the first and foremost event 
in magnitude of the administration the captain-general 
had failed to keep his word ; and the strong Weyler, like 
the weak Campos, had been unable to fix lines of 
limitation on the surging sea of rebellion. Wherever 
the captain-general had drawn a mark and said 
" thus far and no further," the waves had rolled 
over the forbidden territory. It was soon seen 
that the Maceos had not retired from the west 
end. Gomez might be "Oriented," but Maceo was 
not, and then the question arose whether the daring 
rebels would not be caught and crushed by the superior 
Spanish forces ; and that is constantly threatened. 

Again the Spanish columns were used to form a fence 
of steel across the Island, and once more the rebels rode 
about the country at their pleasure. Again the burning 
cane fields reddened the southern sky as beheld from 
Havana. Again there were merciless burnings in all 
the provinces where military protection had been prom- 
ised, and the priceless tobacco plantations of the west 
end were utterly ruined. And still the Maceos were 
enabled to elude the regular troops, and strike at vil- 
lages and towns, gaining supplies ; and the broader the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 1 37 

swath of destruction the greater the number of recruits 
for the army of independence. The captain-general at 
one time said he wanted no more men from Spain — had 
enough to carry out his poUcy ; and he had, of course, 
if this was a war of numbers, a clash of military organ- 
izations of the modern kind. But it is a war of skir- 
mishers, precisely the sort of war in which Spaniards 
and their tropical children have always distingushed 
themselves, and the rebels are resisting the army in the 
jungles of Cuba, and in the broad plantations, too, by 
their remarkable mobility, as the Seminole Indians in 
the everglades of Florida baffled our regulars. The 
captain-general, after a further study of the situation, 
concluded he wanted a few more batallions of cavalry, 
and they will not be able to cope with the veteran insur- 
gents, while Maceo, receiving, we presume, the car- 
tridges landed from the Bermuda in strange security 
from the Spanish cruisers, suddenly changed his tactics 
and had startling success in aggressive movements just 
at the time and place where his blows inflict the great- 
est possible damage to the Spanish cause, but in doing 
so he may have held Spaniards in too light esteem, for 
there is an unusual tone of confidence in the cables that 
he is hard pressed. 



138 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE FORCES NOW ENGAGED IN CUBA. 

The Conduct of the War — Spanish Force Almost 200.000 Armed Men — 
65,000 Cubans in Arms, but Poorly Armed— Cavalry a Most Im- 
portant Factor — Sanitary Regulations Lessen Spanish Loss by Sick- 
ness—Opinions of Experts — Suggestions of Strategy — Statistics of 
the Population of Combatants. — Women in the Army for Protection. 

The Spanish army in Cuba, at the beginning of this 
war, numbered 17,000, and amounted, with the rein- 
forcements, Jan. I, 1896, to 119,000. Since that date 
there have been large accessions, so that taking account 
of losses there are, of Spanish regulars at the seat of 
war, not less than 130,000. There is to be added 63,000 
volunteers guarding the various cities, and with the 
military police and the navy, the Spanish force pressing 
upon Cuba exceeds considerably 200,000 armed men. 

The resources of Spain in population are : 

Spain's total population 18,000,000 

Number having no profession, of which 6,764,406 

are females and 1,963,113 are males 8,727,519 

Men engaged in agriculture . . . . c 4,033,391 

Women engaged in agriculture 828,531 

The industrial census is insignificant compared to 

the agricultural. 

Public office-holders 97>257 

Prisoners 64,000 

Professors and school-teachers (male) 24,642 

" " " (female) 14,490 

People attending school (male) 1,009,810 

" '* " (female) 719,100 

Physicians 20,474 

Lady Physicians 78 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 139 

Literary writers (male) 1,171 

" " (female) 74 

Actors and actresses 3,497 

Servants (male) 89,958 

(female) 319,956 

Professional beggars (male) 39,279 

(female) 51,946 

Priests and friars 43,528 

Nuns 28,549 

Spaniards who read and write (male). .3,417,855 \ 

" *' " " " (female). 2, 686,615 '^ ^'^°4,47o 

The population of Cuba is between 1,600,000 and 
1,700,000, and there are not less than 50,000 men serv- 
ing the Cuban cause in the field, and they claim 65,000, 
an enormous proportion of the available population. 

A Spanish military expert in a Madrid journal, has 
given a very interesting and generally accurate, though 
manifestly prejudiced, account of the character of the 
war. He says : 

Had we in Cuba a large force of cavalry when the revolution started, 
things would have taken another turn. It is to be regretted that nothing 
has been done to remedy this defect. 

' What are the tactics employed in the present war ? Is there anything 
new about them, anything extraordinary ? Not a thing. 

In this, as in the last war, the only means of action is the horse. 
They ride incessantly here and there, and when their horses are tired, 
they seize any they come across. They frequently rest during the day, 
and march at night, in as light order as possible, carrying only a ham- 
mock, a piece of oilcloth, cartridges, machete and rifle. They live by 
marauding. The country people feed them, and help them so far as 
they can, and where these insurgents don't find sympathy, the machete, 
the torch and the rope are good arguments. In the woods they find 
good shelter, places for storage and for hospitals. 

They are divided in groups, more or less numerous, to which they give 
the pompous names of regiments and brigades, and they never accept 
fight unless their number is far superior to that of our troops. They 
place themselves in ambush, selecting narrow passages in the woods, 



I40 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



fords and lagoons. They always run after firing, and if pursued, they 
leave a small body charged with firing on their pursuers, while the main 
body advances rapidly and then stops, and, by circling around, get to 
the rear of our troops and harrass them. When they go a long distance, 
they divide into small parties, make the journey at night in the woods, 
and then the several groups assemble, until necessity compels them to 
part again, and meet anew on a preconcerted spot. Their infantry is 
always in loose order, hiding among the bushes, and always protected 
by the cavalry. At times a group separates from the main body, the 
mission being to attract the attention of the government troops, while 
the main body charges " al machete." Such are the insurgents of Cuba, 
and their ways of fighting. 

Let us, the expert says, consider the best means of be- 
ing rid of them, and he makes these propositions, show- 
ing the nature of the war raging. 

I St. Deprive them of mobility by seizing their horses, and then pre- 
vent them from getting others. 

2d. Deprive them of their resources by destroying all the fruit trees, 
and killing all the cattle. 

3d. To end the espionage, concentrate the population of the country, 
and punish severely those who serve the insurgents as spies, messengers 
or correspondents. 

4th. See that they do not receive munitions of war or provisions, by 
watching closely the coast and the environments of the cities, especially 
the points near railroads. 

5th. Divide and demoralize them, so far as possible, with a vigorous 
and constant persecution, especially with calvary and infantry, mounted 
temporarily on horses. 

6th. Prevent them from having any advantage in combats, by sup- 
pressing all detachments not of absolute necessity, to give the columns 
freedom of play, and in case the rebels divide into parties, in like manner 
divide the troops to pursue them. 

7th. Stop their tactics of ambush and their false retreats, by means of 
constant flanks, either double or simple, and do not pursue them with- 
out echeloned reserves. 

8th. Prevent them from passing freely from one province to another by 
use of long lines of troops, duly garrisoned and fortified, and with easy 
means of communication established in all of the largest part of its length. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



141 



9th. Prevent them from surrendering and then returning to the field of 
war again. 

loth. To demoralize the insurgents, make a point of capturing their 
chiefs and their confederates, who, while not in the fighting ranks, are 
ready to help them whenever the opportunity occurs. 

The final recommendations of this writer are to con- 
duct operations with secrecy, to carry on correspond- 
ence in cipher, with the keys often changed ; to forbid 
newspaper correspondents to be with troops, and to take 
possession of all carrier pigeons ; and he says : 

"It must not be forgotten that the organization of a 
good body of guides and confidents, remunerated liber- 
ally and with guaranty of secrecy, is indispensable in 
all wars, and in this of Cuba more especially." 

There arrived in Cuba from Spain, during the war 
from 1868 to 1878, 166,228 soldiers. In 1869, 29,717 
arrived ; in 1875, 26,401 ; in 1876 there were 36,355 
arrivals. The whole number were not in the Island at 
one time. The losses in the field and by sickness were 
large, and also the returns to Spain on the expiration 
of service. 

The following figures are official, and the terrible 
showing is made that out of 90,245 Spanish soldiers in 
Cuba, in 1877, there were 17,677 deaths. 

Died. 

In 1869, of 35,570 5,504 

In 1870, of 47,242 9,395 

In 1871, of 55,357 6,574 

In 1872, of 58,708 7,780 

In 1873, of 52,500 5,902 

In 1874, of 62,572 5,923 

In 1875, of 63,212 6,361 

In 1876, of 78,099 8,482 

In 1877, of 90,245 17,677 

In 1878, of 81,700 7,50° 



Per cent. 


14.56 


14.82 


13.61 


14.56 


13.00 


18.22 


13.60 


14.44 


17.40 


10.89 



142 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The yellow fever was especially violent in 1877, as 
will be remembered, and broke out in the United States 
the following year. The Spaniards claim that they 
have so improved the sanitary state of the army that 
they lose fewer men now with 130,000 men on the 
rolls than they did in the former war with one-third 
that number ; that is, they lose now four to five per 
cent., when in former years the loss was near twenty 
per cent., and they give these figures. 

The dead by actions of war in the previous war was 8J/2 per cent.; the 
sick 9^ per cent. 

Of the infantry and cavalry 1,017 officers perished, and other arms of 
the war, 250. 

The marine infantry had 3,240 loss, crews. of warships, 1,758, and vol- 
unteers, 5,000. 

The losses of officers in relation to the troops was 5 percent, inactions 
of war, and 12.3 per cent, in sickness. 

One reason for the betterment of the sanitary condi- 
tion of the Spanish army is the vigorous enforcement 
of regulations forbidding the excessive indulgence in 
fruit, which was the habit of the men newly arrived. 
This, with their exposure on muddy roads and grounds, 
in the hot and rainy season, caused the pestilence to be 
so fatal. 

This is very important,' especially from the Cuban 
point of view, as they depend a good deal on the 
"friendly fever," as they grimly call it, saying it is a 
strong ally of the cause of liberty. In the manifesto 
of the Cuban revolutionary party to the United States, 
signed by Enrique Jos Varona, we read of the ten years' 
war, " Blood ran in torrents. Public wealth disappeared 
in a bottomless abyss. Two hundred thousand Span- 
iards perished. Whole districts of Cuba were left 



Rer struggles for liberty. 143 

almost without male population." The whole number 
of men lost, and the amount of money spent are over- 
stated; but all excesses of estimate removed, the aggre- 
gates are appalling, and show how ruinous the misgov- 
ernment of Cuba is, both to the peninsula of the home 
country and the Island that fights to be free. 

In the calculations that the thoughtful will make in 
the contemplation of the figures, it should be noted 
and studied that the war that broke out in 1895 is far 
more expensive in money and destructive of life than 
that which closed in 1878. The losses of this war as 
compared with that are three times as great. This pro- 
portion stancis, if applied to the extent of the country 
wasted, the sugar and tobacco fields burned and tram- 
pled, and the combatants engaged on both sides. With 
this in mind, the rate at which the Spaniards and 
Cubans are rushing in the strife of mutual destruction 
to ruin becomes frightfully evident. 

THE CUBANS GOOD HORSEMEN. 

The strength of the Cuban insurgents, the secret of 
the surprising fight they have made, surrounded as they 
are by the Spanish fleets and armies, is in their horses 
and swords. Many thousands are as good horsemen as 
the world has seen — equal to the Cossacks or the cow- 
boys — and the Spaniards, when mounted, are no match 
for them, for the Spanish peasantry do not live on 
horseback. The insurgents have a few thousand good 
rifles and are well provided with pistols, but they have 
never had a fair supply of cartridges. The best modern 
arms are but clubs unless the ammunition is expressly 
manufactured for them. This, and the fact that the 
Cubans cannot take care of their wounded except by 

C-9 



144 ^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

carrying" them to hiding places, is the explanation of the 
often elusive policy of rebel commanders in the field. 
The stroke of business that it is the joy of the Cubans 
to perform, is to harrass and develop the Spaniards with 
a skirmish fire, picking off the officers by sharp-shoot- 
ing, and, if a favorable opportunity offers, to ride in, 
sword in hand — and the sword is the dreadful machete, 
a weapon capitally drawn by the artist. On a horse, 
with this tremendous knife uplifted, the Cuban rebel is 
at his best, and there never was cavalry more formid- 
able. It is this horseback and machete method of fight- 
ing that the mulatto brothers, the Maceos, prefer and 
that has made them terrors as well as heroes. 

AMBUSCADES FREQUENT AND EFFECTIVE. 

The nature of the warfare between many columns of 
Spaniards and squadrons of insurgents, cavalry and 
companies of footmen is such that there are numerous 
incidents of ambuscade skirmishes that are games of 
hide-and-seek, and of deadly encounters hand to hand, 
and also of long-range firing, when the Spaniards have 
the advantage, through abundant cartridges, of making 
the most smoke and having the greatest obscurity in 
which to prepare picturesque reports. The insurgents 
have become experts in barricades and devices of rough 
fortifications for their protection, which may be for- 
given them as fighting men, for there never was a war 
not utterly savage in which the wounded were so ill- 
cared for. 

WOMEN IN THE CUBAN FORCES. 

There has been so much that is imaginary in regard 
to the Cuban war made to serve as true to fact, that 




WOMEN CAVAI,RY. 



(■45) 



HER STRUGGLES EOR LIBERTY. l^y 

some of the really queer things occuringare not respect- 
fully received. At first no one believed, w^ho had not 
seen them, that there were women in the Cuban army ; but 
there is no doubt about it. They are not at all miscalled 
Amazons, for they are warlike women and do not shun 
fighting", the difficulty in employing them being that 
they are insanely brave. When they ride into battle 
they become exalted and are dangerous creatures. 
Those who first joined the forces on the field were the 
wives of men belonging in the army, and their purpose 
was rather to be protected than to become heroines and 
avengers. It shows the state of the Island that the 
women find the army the safest place for them. With 
the men saved from the plantations and the murderous 
bandits infesting the roads and committing every 
lamentable outrage upon the helpless — some of the 
high-spirited Cuban women followed their husbands, 
and the example has been followed and some, instead 
of consenting to be protected, have taken up the fashion 
of fighting. 



148 THE STORY OF CUBA 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CUBAN GOVERNMENT. 

Cubitas the Capital — A Letter from the President — Proclamation and 
Letter from Gomez, the Hero of the War, and a Letter from 
Maceo. 

The patriots of Cuba locate their government at 
Cubitas, and claim its permanency there since about six 
months after the beginning of the war, which was de- 
clared Feb. 24, 1895. The recommendation of the place 
is that it is beyond the range of Spanish artillery, and 
where it cannot be reached by the forces of the govern- 
ment without extreme agility and effort along moun- 
tain paths and passes, through endless ambuscades; and 
then there would be nothing important found, the few 
papers being easily removed, and possibly destroyed 
without much loss, save in matters of form. 

There have been several reports that Spanish expedi- 
tions were on the way to capture this capital, but per- 
haps there would be a demand for guides that could not 
be met. There has been a strong suspicion that the 
capital city was like the headquarters of General Pope's 
army, "in the saddle," and this was not necessarily said 
in derision or serious disrespect, for it is certain the real 
objective point of Spain in putting down the rebellion 
is not the capital, but the camp, as the head of the re- 
bellion is not the president, but the general-in-chief. 

This is but a parallel to General Grant's policy in Vir- 
ginia, which was not the taking of Richmond, but the 
destruction of General Lee's armv. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY 1 49 

Recently a letter has appeared in the journals, dated 
" Executive Headquarters, Republic of Cuba, Cubitas, 
March 17th. This paper, published in the New York 
TimeSy closes : 

You ask me for my views regarding annexation. The fact that I am, 
and for nearly twenty years have been, an American citizen, and more 
proud of it than of anything else connected with earthly things, should in 
itself be sufficient to give a proper idea of my feelings upon that question. 

Cuba is properly American — so much so as is Long Island — and I be- 
lieve there can be but one ultimate disposition of it — to be included in 
the great American sisterhood of states. I am not authorized to speak 
for Generals Gomez and Maceo, or, in fact, for any of the other leaders of 
the rebellion, but I do know that each and all are intensely American in 
hope and sentiment. In closing, let me again thank your paper, in the 
name of the people of Cuba, for its noble stand in the holy cause of lib- 
erty. And allow me to extend, through your influential journal, an in- 
vitation to the American government to send a representative to Cubitas. 

Salvator Cisneras-Betoncourt, 

President. 

It will be noticed that the Cuban president claims to 
be a citizen of the United States ! Some of these gen- 
tlemen have latitudinarian views of the obligations of 
citizenship. 

Maximo Gomez, the generalissimo of the army of 
liberation of Cuba, issued a proclamation last Decem- 
ber, which is very characteristic of the man, and most 
interesting for its expression of individuality, rugged 
force in definition of policy, and the most particular and 
striking vindication of his character that has anywhere 
appeared. In the beginning of that year Jose Marti, the 
president of the Cuban revolutionary government, 
called at the door of Gomez's humble house in Monte 
Christo, San Domingo, and honored him by depositing 
in his hands the command and organization of the army 



ISO THE STORY OF CUBA. 

of the liberation of Cuba. In opening his proclamation 
he says : *' When, at seventy-two years of age, I decided 
to abandon my large family, in whose company I was 
living calmly and happily ; when, in a word, I was em- 
barking myself on the coast of San Domingo to come 
back to my idolized Cuba, I could not hide the emo- 
tions that took possession of me, nor could I make allu- 
sions to the magnitude of the colossal enterprise that I 
was about to undertake. Born, educated, and having 
spent the greater part of my existence on the field of 
battle, it was not possible for me to ignore the question 
as to what kind of men would form my army, and 
against what kind of an enemy I had to fight in order 
to fulfill what I had promised on my word of honor, 
that if I did not die, I would have Cuba as soon as 
possible among the free nations." 

He added it was impossible that the expressions of 
Spanish resentment against him and the reflections of 
the Autonomistic party should fail to reach his ears. 
The Spanish claimed that he was a traitor. He does 
not deny having served as a major in the Spanish 
reserve, but having resigned when the glorious outcry 
of " Yarra " was raised, he feels he was free to join 
Cuban forces. 

In respect to the Autonomistic party, which calls him 
an adventurer, he says, "Ah ! The men who fought for 
half a score of years to give them a nation, honor, and 
liberty; an adventurer ? The one who gained with his 
own blood the first rank in that army which filled the 
world with admiration for its persistency and courage; 
an adventurer ? The one who abandoned his own 
happy land without accepting the rich booty to which 
the shameful peace of the Zanjon invited him; an ad- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I5I 

venturer ? The one who could have offered as an ex- 
cuse for his non-return his many years and the conse- 
quent fatigue, he who abandons everything and flies to 
occupy the place that his own brothers had reserved for 
him ? Ah ! He cannot be an adventurer, who, loaded 
with years and troubles, remembers still, as if were his 
own, the vow made by Cespades and Agramonte, 
twenty-seven years ago, ' to vanquish or to die.' " 

But these offenses he feels are mitigated by the fact 
that his army is filled with physicians, lawyers, mer- 
chants, engineers, farmers and mechanics, who when 
necessity obliges, know how to change the tools which 
give them their living for the machete and the rifle, a 
race whose acts make him forget all ingratitude. 

Up to December he has been busy with the organi- 
zation, and sees how far the army of liberation, com- 
posed of 50,000 men, may reach. " I have," he said, 
" complete confidence in my general staff, am sure of 
the support of the Cuban colonies in foreign countries, 
who collect about $300,000 monthly. I never think of 
belligerency to attain victory; if they recognize it, all 
right ; if they do not, we will achieve the liberty of Cuba. 

"It does not matter to me that 120,000 soldiers are 
sent here by the government; of these, 50,000 are only 
unhappy beings sent here as military show; 20,000 
from 20 to 25 years old whom I classify as half troop, 
for they only give results as detachments and there re- 
-mains 40,000 good men from 25 to 40 years old, while 
it is not necessary to mention the 10,000 who belong to 
the number of the deceased either by bullet, dynamite, 
machete or sickness." 

It entered into Gomez's calculation that Spain might 
send 40,000 additional men, making 80,000 good sol- 



152 THE STORY OF CUBA. "^ 

diers against him, but he does not beh'eve soldiers 
trained to operate in Europe can attain results in Cuba, 
because of its gigantic mountains, the impenetrable 
thickets, the doleful plains, and the secret paths. 

His '' soul grows sad " in thinking of the " criminal 
government that sends thousands and thousands of 
men, who come, like an innocent flock, to find their 
death in a country which they do not know," where every- 
thing and every one is against them, and not knowing 
the infamy which they are to defend. 

He exclaims : " Unfortunate government, where are 
you going to replace that youth the nation loaned 
you? Do you not understand that you cannot conquer 
an army that fights of free will ? . . . Are you not 
horrified with the load of responsibility of burying in 
Cuba 10,000 Spaniards ; but what can we do ? They 
have made up their minds to fight, and we will fight, 
though I cannot realize what is going to become of so 
many people when the government will have no more 
with which to negotiate loans, like the one lately made 
in Paris, at five per cent, and half of brokerage, where 
the national treasury has had to give as a guarantee 
Cuba, when the French can obtain millions at one per 
cent, with common guarantees. 

Gomez believes that the Spanish soldiers will not 
fight without their pay, and that if he successfully 
passes the winter, and strikes that army in the summer, 
because of huno^er and their destitute condition, entire 
battalions, and some of the forty-two generals of the 
Spanish army, with their deep military knowledge, will 
pass over to his side and increase his army. 

The Cuban army, he says, will open their arms and 
accept every one who is willing to live in Cuba, happy 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I 53 

and tranquil ; but until that happy day arrives he finds 
himself, as general-in-chief, obliged to dictate painful 
measures to assure the execution of his plans. It is 
necessary, he claims, to destroy the railroad lines, to 
cause the Spanish soldiers to make long journeys; to 
fatigue them and wear them out ; to destroy by fire 
such places as might help the enemy : to burn the 
sugar cane and destroy the plantations, and he advises 
those who are not with the revolution to go to the 
cities. Spain will be the responsible party for the des- 
olation. He promises to treat prisoners with respect, 
and to meet the cowardly conduct of the Spanish in 
shooting his officers by pardoning theirs. 

In conclusion he says : " What will be the future of 
these unhappy people if the Spanish are triumphant ? 
The rural elements being absolutely destroyed, their 
cities having been the scene of the most frightful mis- 
ery; with tfie debt of the past war and that of the pres- 
ent, which will amount to as much as $500,000,000; 
having to maintain an army of 50,000 men, in order to 
annihilate the Cuban race so that they will not think 
of repeating the disaster, every one who is able to do 
so will emigrate before so much misfortune ; and there 
remains no solution but to turn their eyes towards the 
revolution, thus after a few years making Cuba, which 
is a young and rich people, the most enviable country 
on earth. In its government they will have a place in 
which all the honest men may find a home without its 
being necessary to say from whence they came; a gov- 
ernment which constitutes itself without debt, without 
any compromise, and upon the basis of republican lib- 
erty, has to be prosperous, rich and happy, because 
they follow the doctrines of Christ. 



154 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



" And we will conquer and be free, cost what it may, 
or happen what will, and though we have to raise a 
hospital in each corner and a tomb in each home." 

A letter from Gomez, dated March 15th, said to have 
been written near the Matanzas border, was secured 
by John T. Rays, an American on the staff of the rebel 
commander-in-chief, and delivered by him to an insur- 
gent mail-carrier, at a point not more than twelve miles 
from the city of Havana. 

Gomez dwells upon the debts of Spain, and the abil- 
ity of Cuba to meet anticipations soon after its inde- 
pendence, and he is charged with saying : 

We are not looking for English sympathy. We know that England 
has long had her eye on Cuba, and I am firmly of the opinion that but 
for the grand message of President Cleveland with reference to Venezu- 
ela, the custom houses of our Island would now be controlled by the 
Bank of England, and thousands of red-coated soldiers would be assist- 
ing Spain. 

This may be Gomez, but it has not quite the sound 
of him. As to General Weyler, we find this the atti- 
tude of the rebel chieftain : 

He is nearly worn out and hoarse from proclamations and speeches, 
and his military judgment is far inferior tc^ that of General Campos, and 
we have marched with even greater ease from one section of the country 
to the other. 

Weyler's coming has benefited the Cuban cause in many ways. 
His record was against him, and the world knew that Spain intended to 
be cold-blooded and inhuman when she sent him. The people of Cuba 
knew this also, and thousands of men who were not inclined to join one 
side or the other while General Campos remained, are now bearing arms 
with our flag. The majority of Spaniards are not fiends and butchers 
by any means, and when a human devil is sent to lead them in the work 
of murder and outrage, they naturally refuse to follow him. Although 
massacres have occurred and although homes have been ruined and 




GENERAI< MAXIMO GOMEZ. 



(IS5) 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I 57 

womanhood outraged by order of Weyler, the lovers of liberty may 
thank God that he was sent to command Spain's army in Cuba. 

We are charged with burning homes, destroying railroads and 
bridges, and laying growing fields waste — and the charges are in a meas- 
ure true. We have carried out such plans, believing that in such a 
cause, and against such an enemy, we were right. But no man can 
truthfully say that we have outraged God and love and humanity, even 
for liberty's sake. I am here to lead an army against Spain, against her 
army, her towns, her revenues, and I shall wage it so long as the Al- 
mighty Father gives me strength. 

A letter from Maceo is also published, and he says, 
dating from Pinar del Rio : 

When I last marched my army into Pinar del Rio, and when General 
Gomez followed, so did almost the entire land force of the enemy, and 
her navy was all ordered to the Pinar del Rio coast line. While they 
were watching us at this end of the Island, three of the best expeditions 
of the war made successful landings in the far east. 

Let Spain send her reinforcements. She could not with 25,000 
reinforcements put down this rebellion. 

Although we are daily receiving arms and ammunition, we are con- 
stantly compelled to turn away, but it will not always be so, and I will 
venture to say that within two months we shall have 75,000 fully 
armed men in the field. We could have double that number if we had 
the arms for them. We are praying for belligerency and for arms and 
for artillery. Give us these, and before the year 1897 comes round you 
will witness a Cuban president installed in the captain-general's place 
at Havana. 

God bless Cuba and God bless the American people. 

Antonio Maceo, 

Lieiitejiant- General. 

The verification of the letters of the Cuban chiefs is 
an uncertain business, but it is known that the insur- 
gents in the field do have communication with their 
friends in the Cuban cities and this country, and there 
are constant surprises at the success of their dangerous 
mail service. 



I5B THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE PLAY OF PRESIDENT PIERCE FOR CUBA. 

American Interest in Cuba and English Jealousy — The Famous Con- 
ference at Ostend in 1854, between Buchanan, Mason and Soule, 
the Ministers to England, France and Spain— Mr. Marcy's Warlike 
Letters and Soule's Courtly Ways — Cuba we must have, in Peace if 
Possible, by War if Necessary, was the Policy of Pierce — The Fam- 
ous Manifesto by Three Ministers — A Record of the Past Applic- 
able to the Present — Buchanan's Nomination for the Presidency. 

It is an agreeable task to give the credit due to 
the American soldiers for the conquest of Cuba by 
the British in 1762. The reinforcements that arrived 
at Havana from New York were essential to the success 
of the immense expedition that had almost exhausted its 
strength in the siege of the Moro, when the provincials 
sailed through storm and were saved from shipwreck 
to the rescue. The records of their gallantry and sac- 
rifices are but fragmentary, yet the magnitude of their 
deeds, though worthy the admiration of their race and 
age, were insufficient to win the gratitude or secure 
the justice of the king in whose name they took service 
and gained a prize rich as the other India. 

This was the period of American loyalty to England. 
Great Britain and her American colonies had together 
triumphed over the French, who abandoned the con- 
test for North America when they burnt their fort at 
the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela, and 
sailed down the Ohio to the land where the floods of 
the Mississippi overcome the tides of the Gulf. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 159 

Together they were conquerors of Cuba, though the 
Island was bravely and bitterly defended. We say the 
conquest of Cuba, because the surrender of Havana 
substantially included all. If our fathers could then 
have rested on a ratified paper beginning " We, the 
people of the United States, in order to form a more 
perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tran- 
quility, provide for the common defense, promote the 
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to 
ourselves and posterity, do ordain and establish this 
constitution for the United States of America " — if there 
had been the rule of fundamental law rather than the 
caprice of a monarch and the favor and folly of his flat- 
terers, Cuba would have been ours then and forever; and 
it should be considered now as one of the appeals to the 
equity of empires whether we did not acquire, through 
the blood the grandfathers of the American nation 
shed and the bones they laid in the soil of Cuba, cer- 
tain inalienable preemption rights that entitle us, under 
lineal inheritance and irrepealable immemorial laws, 
written and unwritten, to possess the Island and pre- 
serve it from ruin. A preemption right is that to pur- 
chase certain lands in preference to others, and with 
the history of Cuba an open book before us, we may 
without immodesty assert the endurance of the priv- 
ilege, and Spain, as a part of her indemnity, should 
claim from Great Britain the prize money carried to 
England from Havana, where even the bells of the 
churches had to be ransomed. We did not get the sil- 
ver and gold, and may insist upon our right of pref- 
erence to the land. 

It has always been the understanding that the ulti- 
mate manifest destiny of Cuba belongs to her people 

C — lo 



l6o THE STORY OF CUBA. 

as our people, for the grasp of Spain in time must re- 
lax on the gem of the Gulf as on Mexico and Peru and 
Florida and Hayti, and the rest. More than once those 
we helped to batter the Moro and bombard Havana 
into submission appeared on the scene where we aided 
them to victory with sentiments and policy to our dis- 
advantage, and we have discovered repeatedly in that 
region the evidence of English-speaking opposition, not 
to say animosity ; and even now the British empire 
would regard it a diplomatic and sea power master- 
stroke worthy of the last century, to promote the ma- 
terialization of a League of the West Indies under Eu- 
ropean protection, if the direct dominance of England 
should seem too positive a form of proceeding, Such a 
confederation signifies a barrier before us, and the 
imperial abrogation of the Monroe doctrine would be 
the shrinkage of our pretensions, including the abandon- 
ment of a policy in which we have cherished a generous 
sentiment and indulged an elevated pride for more 
than seventy years. 

The Astor Library contains an old pamphlet with 
the title page ; " Remarks on the Cession of the Flori- 
das to the United States of America, and on the Ne- 
cessity of Acquiring the Island of Cuba by Great Brit- 
ain." The author is J. Freeman Rattenbury, Esq., and 
the date of publication 1869. This passage expresses 
the truculent spirit of the pamphleteer and hints at hos- 
tilities in more important quarters : 

Should the American government, inflated by their partial successes 
in the last war with Great Britain, determine upon taking violent pos- 
sessions of the Floridas, Spain must, however reluctantly, resent the in- 
sult, and call upon her allies for assistance against the common enemy 
of their Alliance, and we shall not, I presume, refuse the summons: 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. l6l 

we have already a subject of deep interest to discuss with the United 
States, the unexpiated murder of Arbuthnot and Ambruster* which, not- 
withstanding the feeble efforts of the administration to palliate, in op- 
position to the manly and indignant feelings expressed in the motion of 
the Marquis of Lansdowne, remains a foul charge against the American 
character, and an insult to our own. 

We quote again Mr. Rattenbury : " The people of 
Cuba," he said, "anticipated from the weakness of 
Spain, and her decreasing- influence on the American 
continents, the possibihty of her cession, as was the 
case with Florida to the United States," and upon this 
he becomes thus expansive : 

The people of the United States, dreading the proximity of our arms, 
are actively nourishing this apprehension of evil and are ready to aid 
the first manifestations of a desire to throw off the sovereignty of Spain. 
But for the intolerable egotism of the people of the Union, and for the 
contempt they have excited by their vanity and ambition, Cuba would 
have long since unfettered her dependence upon the Spanish Monarch, 
and have thrown herself into the federal embrace of the North American 
Union. 



*In 1817 — two years after the battle of New Orleans, it will be observed — An- 
drew Jackson took the field to put an end to the deviltry of the Seminole Indians. 
Spain did not cede Florida to the United States till 1819, and we did not take pos- 
session of it till 1821. The Seminoles made incursions from Spanish territory 
into our own. Jackson seized the Spanish fort. St. Mark, and found a Scotchman 
there named Arbuthnot, and at Suwanee he seized Ambruster, both British sub- 
jects. They were convicted by court martial of inciting savages to hostility, and 
Jackson hanged them, though the court (military) had only sentenced Ambristerto 
be whipped. Then Jackson marched into Pensacola in spite of Spanish remon- 
strances. These proceedings caused much angry excitement in England and there 
were threats of war. There was a great row in Congress and Jackson threatened 
to cut off the ears of certain insolent senators. John Quincy Adams, the Secre- 
tary of State, defended him. It was on account of the use of the incident of the 
Arbuthnot and Ambruster executions for abuse of Jackson when he was a candidate 
for the Presidency, that there was intense feeling. Jackson was the first governor 
of the territory of Florida and he imprisoned the departing Spanish governor for 
trying to carry away papers, and the attempt to censure Jackson in Congress for 
this arbitrary act failed. General Jackson was a positive character. 



1 62 _ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

During the presidency of Mr. Jefferson, while Spain bowed beneath 
the yoke of France, from which there was then no prospect of relief, the 
people of Cuba, feeling themselves incompetent in force to maintain their 
independence, sent a deputation to Washington, proposing the annexa- 
tion of the Island to the federal system of North America. The Presi- 
dent, however, devoted to French influence, vainly calculating upon the 
triumphs of that nation on the ruins of the British power, until the im- 
portant victory of Trafalgar dissipated the delusion, declined the prof- 
fered acquisition. 

While I hazard the opinion that the people of Cuba will be adverse to 
the sovereignty of Great Britain, coupled with the restrictions of our 
colonial policy, I am far from believing that they would feel disinclined 
to the transfer of their allegiance, provided our possession of the Island 
should leave them, in their present situation, free to the commerce of 
the world. Advancing in the scale of consequence by becoming tribu- 
tary to the first commercial and maritime nation of Europe, secure in 
property and liberty, under our protection the Island of Cuba would in- 
crease in population and in wealth with a rapidity unequaled, and would 
amply repay the British government for its fostering care and protec 
tion, while its rich mountains and fertile plains would present to the re- 
dundancy of our population a delightful refuge from the misery of pov- 
erty and despair. 

It is our bounden duty, it is our imperative policy, to anticipate the 
rivalship of the United States, and by erecting a power capable of con- 
tending with them in their own hemisphere, prevent the destruction of 
our commerce, which will otherwise inevitably follow our neglect of 
those precautionary measures, for, in spite of the infatuated indifference 
which marks our policy toward the republic, in spite of the apathy with 
which we view their rapid progress in wealth and power, hereafter the 
contest for the empire of the sea will be between England and the North 
American Union, a warfare suited to the prejudices of their people, and 
the character of their country. 

Not in this spirit, perhaps, but to this effect — in diplo- 
matic phraseology — possibly Great Britain may reappear 
in the affairs of Cuba. This English writer gives un- 
common force to the Cuban annexation movement in 
the time of Jefferson, who, though censured for French 
affiliations, did well in the transaction of the Louisiana 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 1 63 

Purchase, and as Senator Hoar says, he comes down to 
us with the Declaration of Independence in one hand 
and the Louisiana Purchase in the other ; and we 
might as well give him our distinguished considera- 
tion without disputation. It was not certain he had 
the chance to gain Cuba without costly complica- 
tions. It should be remembered, too, that Jackson's 
victory at New Orleans confirmed our title to the 
lands sold by Napoleon ; and the English conten- 
tion, if they had won at New Orleans, would have been 
that Napoleon had no right to sell the mouth of the 
Mississippi. They gave that up, however, when they 
returned shattered from New Orleans, where they suf- 
fered an astounding disaster, to recuperate on the way 
home at Havana, which their country once gained in 
"the game of the iron dice," and their king passed it 
along like a snuff box. If they had held that prize 
instead of fooling it away in alleged diplomacy, very 
many things would have been changed. If it had been 
ours in 1815, the British New Orleans fleet and army 
would not have landed on the continent. 

It is most interesting to trace the shifting currents of 
influence by which Louisiana and Florida became ours 
without excessive offense to Spain. We never took ad- 
vantage of her to the provocation of war, while Cuba, 
whose surpassing fertility made her the prize beyond 
comparison to be desired, incessantly attracted to us in 
peace and war, was always repelled through partizan 
timidity if not by rude blundering. That which on 
the Island was alluring to one class of our statesmen 
was repulsive to another. We refer to the existence in 
our Southern States, and in Cuba, until abolished by 
the sword, of the institution of slavery. 



164 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Vice-President Wilson, in his " Rise and Fall of the 
Slave Power in America," introducing the episode of 
the Ostend Manifesto, a momentous paper, says : 

When the Spanish colonies in America became independent they abol- 
ished slavery. Apprehensive that the republics of Mexico and Colombia 
would be anxious to wrest Cuba and Porto Rico from Spain, secure their 
independence, and introduce into those islands the idea, if they did not, 
establish the fact, of freedom, the slave-masters (of the United States) 
at once sought to guard against what they deemed so calamitous an 

event But after the annexation of Texas there was a change of 

feeling and purpose, and Cuba, from being an object of dread, became 
an object of vehement desire. The propagandists, strengthened and 
emboldened by that signal triumph, now turned their eyes toward this 
beautiful "isle of the sea," as the theatre of new exploits; and they 
determined to secure the "gem of the Antilles " for the coronet of their 
great and growing power. During Mr. Polk's administration an attempt 
was made to purchase it, and the sum of $100,000,000 was offered there- 
for. But the offer was promptly declined. What, however, could not 
be bought, it was determined to steal, and filibustering movements and 
expeditions became the order of the day. For no sooner was President 
Taylor inaugurated than he found movements on foot in that direction; 
and, in August, 1849, he issued a proclamation, affirming his belief that an 
'* armed expedition " was being fitted out "against Cuba, or some of the 
provinces of Mexico," and calling upon all good citizens "to discoun- 
tenance and prevent any such enterprise." 

Reference is had in Wilson's History to the ill-fated 
Lopez expedition, which was, of course, in the interest 
of the formation of more slave states in the. United 
States, and it was that influence that made the most of 
the tragedy. August, 1854, President Pierce instructed 
Secretary of State Marcy to cause a conference of the 
ministers of the United States to England, France and 
Spain — Buchanan, Mason and Soule — to be held with a 
view to the acquisition of Cuba, in this emulating the 
success of Polk with Texas, regaining imperial domains. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 1 65 

Mr. Marcy, secretary of state, August i6, 1854, ad- 
dressed Mr. Soule, minister to Spain, a letter stating 
he was directed by the president " to suggest a partic- 
ular step from which he anticipates much advantage to 
the negotiations with which you are charged on the sub- 
ject of Cuba." Mr. Soule of Louisiana was minister to 
Spain for that express purpose and was a man of re- 
markable talents, courtly accomplishments, striking 
presence and of rare persuasive capacity. His eye and 
voice were fascinating, and he was well chosen for the 
work cut out as his task. Mr. Marcy proceeded to 
make the president's suggestion in these terms : " It 
seems desirable there should be a full and free inter- 
change of views between yourself, Mr. Buchanan and 
Mr. Mason, in order to secure a concurrence in reference 
to the general object." 

The idea was that the ministers should consult 
together, compare opinions as to what might be 
advisable, and adopt measures for perfect concert 
of action in the negotiations with Madrid. The presi- 
dent had full confidence in Mr. Soule's intelligence, 
and yet he thought, said Mr. Marcy to him, "that it 
cannot be otherwise than agreeable to you and to your 
colleagues in Great Britain and France, to have the 
consultation suggested, and thus bring your common 
wisdom and knowledge to bear simultaneously upon 
the negotiations at Madrid, London and Paris." When- 
ever the interview took place, Mr. Soule was desired to 
communicate to the government " the results of opinion 
or means of action to which you may in common arrive 
through a trustworthy confidential messenger, who may 
be able to supply the details not contained in a formal 
dispatch." The precaution to provide that some things 



1 66 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

should not be put on paper will be observed as in char- 
acter with the entire proceedings. In extensive des- 
patches Mr. Marcy had advised Mr. Soule : " It was be- 
lieved by the president that there was no hope, by pur- 
suing the ordinary course of negotiation, of arriving at 
such an adjustment of our affairs with Spain as could 
be satisfactory to this country. If she could be induced 
to give a fair consideration to our complaints for injuries 
perpetrated, and offer a full reparation for them, yet 
the more difficult matter — an arrangement in respect to 
the future — would still remain to be made," and " prepar- 
atory to resorting to an extreme measure, he thought it 
would be expedient to make a solemn and impressive 
appeal to Spain, by an extraordinary commission ;" and 
"if, in her infatuation, Spain should determine not to 
regard it, but persist in maintaining the present order 
of things, not only the people of this country, but the 
governments of others, would see, in such a course on 
the part of the United States, an anxious desire and a 
settled determination to exhaust all peaceful means for 
redress and future security." 

There is in this unmistakably the contemplation of 
war with Spain, unless she gave up Cuba peaceably. 
Mr. Marcy proceeded to assure Mr. Soule " that in con- 
sidering this measure, it did not occur to the president, 
or any of his advisers, that the institution of an extra- 
ordinary commission in a case so unusual, and of 
such great importance, could warrant an inference that 
our minister at Madrid had not faithfully and ably 
done his duty, and given satisfaction to the govern- 
ment. Such an inference is repelled by the fact that he 
was to have been included in the commission, and placed 
at its head, if it could be said to have any gradation," 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 1 6/ 

But, there had interposed events in Spain such that 
she was in a transition state, and so the conclusion was 
reached at Washington, " before its administration shall 
have resumed a stable and tranquil condition, it would 
not be opportune as to time, or of any practical util- 
ity, to press particular demands on the consideration of 
the Spanish government." 

The Spanish revolution had changed the aspect of 
things, and it was more important to look to the future 
than the past. The president's views were unchanged, 
of course, but he desired "additional hopes of success 
in the great objects contemplated," and thought the new 
government should not be pressed ; " but even at this 
crisis " Mr. Marcy was bound to say, " few subjects 
of greater moment can be pressed upon it than the 
management of Cuba. To this subject, as bearing upon 
the interests of the United States, and in its present con- 
dition threatening the peace of two countries, you will 
direct your particular attention." The process was 
changed, but the policy was unrelenting. It will be 
observed that the peace of the two countries was threat- 
ened ; several back logs were kept in the fireplace ! Mr. 
Marcy gives space to thoughts about the condition of 
Spain in a semi-confidential way, and adds, " These 
remarks are intended to apply, not only to the lesser 
questions between two governments, but equally to the 
greater and higher ones, more especially what concerns 
the relation of Cuba to the United States." The president 
had thought it might be well he should be clothed by 
Congress "with additional power with reference to our 
relation with Spain;" this " in anticipation of sundry 
eventualities which may present themselves in the 
recess of Congress." It was, however, concluded the 



1 68 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

better way to defer an " extraordinary commission," 
and ''extraordinary powers " for the president, and shift 
the scene of activity from Washington. 

Mr. Soule, under date of Aix-la-Chapelle, Oct. 15, 
1854, wrote to Mr. Marcy : 

I had not been more than two days at the Pyrenees, when I received 
the despatches numbered 18 and 19, which Colonel Sickles had in charge 
from you to deliver in my hands. They informed me of the course 
which it was the wish of the president I should pursue in the ascertain- 
ment of the best mode through which could be accomplished the main 
object of my mission, viz : the acquisition of the island of Cuba from 
Spain. 

The Ostend conference was the substitute for the 
extraordinary commission. The one object was Cuba. 
The conference met at Ostend the 9th of October, 
1854, continued in conference three consecutive days, 
and adjourned to Aix-la-Chapelle, where notes were pre- 
pared. It was "infinite satisfaction" that "cordial har- 
mony" marked every step, and the sentiments of the 
three ambassadors were unanimous on all points ! Mr. 
Soule said, in a letter to Mr. Marcy, transmitting the 
joint report: "The question of the acquisition of Cuba 
by us is gaining ground as it grows to be more seri- 
ously agitated and considered. Now is the moment 
for us to be done with it ; " and he added, "if it is to 
bring upon us the calamity of a war — let it be now, 
while the great powers of this continent are engaged in 
that stupendous struggle which cannot but engage all 
their strength and tax all their energies as long as it 
lasts, and may, before it ends, convulse them all. 
Neither England nor France would be likely to inter- 
fere with us. England could not bear to be suddenly 
shut out of our market, and see her manufactures par- 



HER STRUGGLES EOR LIBERTY. I7I 

alyzed, even by a temporary suspension of her inter- 
course with us. And France, with the heavy task now 
on her hands, and when she so eagerly aspires to take her 
seat as the acknowledged chief of the European family, 
would have no inducement to assume the burden of 
another war." This was improving" the Crimean war. 

The memorandum agreed upon by the three minis- 
ters in extraordinary conference assembled, was the em- 
bodiment in form of the suggestions set forth in the 
letters of Marcy and Soule. This portentous document 
presents very forcibly the value of Cuba as an acquisi- 
tion by the United States, irrespective of the primary 
purpose to strengthen slavery in our country. 

The first business when the need of swift action while 
Europe was engaged in the Crimean war — and Spain, in a 
revolutionary and transition state, became the inspiration 
of the policy of the administration, was that our peace- 
able intentions should be carefully set forth — especially 
the generosity of offering the Spanish a greater sum of 
money than Cuba was worth to them ; and then, if they 
would not listen to reason, we were to act upon the pre- 
sumption that there could be no repose for the Union un- 
til Cuba was included in our boundaries. If Spain acted 
in a stubborn manner and upon a " false sense of honor," 
we must act in accordance with the law of self-preser- 
vation — and prevent the flames from a burning house 
destroying our home. We would be " unworthy our 
gallant forefathers," and commit "treason against our 
posterity," if we permitted "Cuba to be Africanized and 
become a second San Domingo." The study of these 
papers, it must be admitted, affords some explanation of 
the excessive sensibility that Spain shows to the shadow 
cast by America upon Cuba. The manifesto is so in- 



172 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

teresting in its application to present conditions that its 
complete production is required to make intelligible 
the whole story of Cuba, and we give it here : 

THE OSTEND MANIFESTO. 

Aix-la-Chapelle, Oct. i8, 1854. 

Sir: The undersigned, in compliance witli the wish expressed by the 
president in the several confidential despatches you have addressed to 
us respectively, to that effect, we have met in conference, first at Ostend, 
in Belgium, on the 9th, loth, and nth instant, and then at Aixda-Chapelle, 
in Prussia, on the days next following, up to the date hereof. 

There has been a full and unreserved interchange of views and senti- 
ments between us, which we are most happy to inform you has resulted 
in a cordial coincidence of opinion on the grave and important subjects 
submitted to our consideration. 

We have arrived at the conclusion, and are thoroughly convinced that 
an immediate and earnest effort ought to be made by the government of 
the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain at any price for which it 
can be obtained, not exceeding the sum of % 

The proposal should, in our opinion, be made in such a manner as to 
be presented through the necessary diplomatic forms to the Supreme 
Constituent Cortes about to assemble. On this momentous question, in 
which the people, both of Spain and the United States, are so deeply in- 
terested, all our proceedings ought to be open, frank and public. They 
should be of such a character as to challenge the approbation of the world. 

We firmly believe that, in the progress of human events, the time has 
arrived when the vital interests of Spain are as seriously involved in the 
sale, as those of the United States in the purchase, of the Island, and 
that the transaction will prove equally honorable to both nations. 

Under these circumstances we cannot anticipate a failure, unless pos- 
sibly through the malign influence of foreign powers who possess no right 
whatever to interfere in the matter. 

We proceed to state some of the reasons which have brought us to this 
conclusion, and for the sake of clearness, we shall specify them under 
two distinct heads: 

1. The United States ought, if practicable, to purchase Cuba with as 
little delay as possible. 

2. The probability is great that the government and Cortes of Spain 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I 73 

will prove willing to sell it, because this would essentially promote the 
highest and best interests of the Spanish people. 

Then, i. It must be clear to every reflecting mind that, from the 
peculiarity of its geographical position, and the considerations attendant 
on it, Cuba is as necessary to the North American republic as any of its 
present members and that it belongs naturally to that great family of 
states of which the Union is the providential nursery. 

From its locality it commands the mouth of the Mississippi and the 
immense and annually increasing trade which must seek this avenue to 
the ocean. 

On the numerous navigable streams, measuring an aggregate course of 
some thirty thousand miles, which disembogue themselves through this 
magnificent river into the Gulf of Mexico, the increase of the population 
within the last ten years amounts to more than that of the entire Union 
at the time Louisiana was annexed to it. 

The natural and main outlet to the products of this entire population, 
the highway of their direct intercourse with the Atlantic and the Pacific 
states, can never be secure, but must ever be endangered whilst Cuba is 
a dependency of a distant power in whose possession it has proved to be 
a source of constant annoyance and embarrassment to their interests. 

Indeed, the Union can never enjoy repose, not possess reliable secur- 
ity, as long as Cuba is not embraced within its bo-undaries. 

Its immediate acquisition by our government is of paramount impor- 
tance, and we cannot doubt but that it is a consummation devoutly wished 
for by its inhabitants. 

The intercourse which its proximity to our coast begets and encour- 
ages between them and the citizens of the United States, has, in the 
progress of time, so united their interests and blended their fortunes that 
they now look upon each other as if they were one people and had but 
one destiny. 

Considerations exist which render delay in the acquisition of this 
Island exceedingly dangerous to the United States. 

The system of immigration and labor lately organized within its lim 
its, and the tyranny and oppression which characterize its immediate 
rulers, threaten an insurrection at every moment which may result in 
direful consequences to the American people. 

Cuba has thus become to us an unceasing danger, and a permanent 
cause of anxiety and alarm. 

But we need not enlarge on these topics. It can scarcely be appre- 
hended that foreign powers, in violation of internationallaw, would inter- 



174 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

pose their influence with Spain to prevent our acquisition of the Island, 
Its inhabitants are now suffering under the worst of all possible govern- 
ments, that of absolute despotism, delegated by a distant power to irre- 
sponsible agents, who are changed at short intervals, and who are 
tempted to improve the brief opportunity thus afforded to accumulate 
fortunes by the basest means 

As long as this system shall endure, humanity may in vain demand 
the suppression of the African slave trade in the Island. This is rendered 
impossible whilst that infamous traffic remains an irresistible temptation 
and a source of immense profit to needy and avaricious officials, who, to 
attain their ends, scruple not to trample the most sacred principles under 
foot. 

The Spanish government at home may be well disposed, but experience 
has proved that it cannot control these remote depositaries of its power. 

Besides, the commercial nations of the world cannot fail to perceive 
and appreciate the great avantages which would result to their people 
from a dissolution of the forced and unnatural connection between Spain 
and Cuba, and the annexation of the latter to the United States. The 
trade of England and France with Cuba would, in that event, assume at 
once an important and profitable character, and rapidly extend with the 
increasing population and prosperity of the Island. 

2. But if the United States and every commercial nation would be 
benefited by this transfer, the interests of Spain would also be greatly 
and essentially promoted. 

She cannot but see what such a sum of money as we are willing to pay 
for the Island would affect it in the development of her vast natural 
resources. 

Two-thirds of this sum, if employed in the construction of a system of 
railroads, would ultimately prove a source of greater wealth to the Span- 
ish people than that opened to their vision by Cortez. Their prosperity 
would date from the ratification of the treaty of cession. 

France has already constructed continuous lines of railways from 
Havre, Marseilles, Valenciennes, and Strasburg, via Paris, to the Span- 
ish frontier, and anxiously awaits the day when Sp^in shall find herself in 
a condition to extend these roads through her northern provinces to 
Madrid, Seville, Cadiz, Malaga, and the frontiers of Portugal. 

This object once accomplished, Spain would become a centre of 
attraction for the traveling world, and secure a permanent and profitable 
market for her various productions. Her fields, under the stimulus 
given to industry by remunerating prices, would teem with cereal grain, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I 75 

and her vineyards would bring forth a vastly increased quantity of 
choice wines. Spain would speedily become what a bountiful Provi. 
dence intended she should be, one of the first nations of continental 
Europe — rich, powerful, and contented. 

Whilst two-thirds of the price of the Island would be ample for the 
completion of her most important public improvements, she might with 
the remaining forty millions satisfy the demands now pressing so heavily 
upon her credit, and create a sinking fund which would gradually relieve 
her from the overwhelming debt now paralyzing her energies. 

Such is her present wretched financial condition, that her best bonds 
are sold upon her own bourse at about one-third of their par value ; 
whilst another class, on which she pays no interest, have but a nominal 
value, and are quoted at about one-sixth of the amount for which they 
were issued. Besides, these latter are held principally by British cred- 
itors, who may, from day to day, obtain the effective interposition of 
their own government for the purpose of coercing payment. Intimations 
to that effect have been already thrown out from high quarters, and 
unless some new sources of revenue shall enable Spain to provide for 
such exigencies, it is not improbable that they may be realized. 

Should Spain reject the present golden opportunity for developing her 
resources and removing her financial embarrassments, it may never 
again return. 

Cuba, in her palmiest days, never yielded her exchequer, after deduct- 
ing the expense of its government, a clear annual income of more than 
a million and a half of dollars. These expenses have increased to such 
a degree as to leave a deficit, chargeable on the treasury of Spain, to the 
amount of six hundred thousand dollars. 

In a pecuniary point of view, therefore, the Island is an encumbrance 
instead of a source of profit to the mother-country. 

Under no probable circumstances can Cuba ever yield to Spain one per 
cent, on the large amount which the United States are willing to pay for 
its acquisition. But Spain is in imminent danger of losing Cuba with- 
out remuneration. 

Extreme oppression, it is now universally admitted, justifies any peo- 
ple in endeavoring to relieve themselves from the yoke of their oppres- 
sors. The sufferings which the corrupt, arbitrary, and unrelenting local 
administration necessarily entails upon the inhabitants of Cuba cannot 
fail to stimulate and keep alive that spirit of resistance and revolution 
against Spain which has of late years been so often manifested. In 
this condition of affairs it is vain to expect that the sympathies of the 



176 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

people of the United States will not be warmly enlisted in favor of their 
oppressed neighbors. 

We know that the president is justly inflexible in his determination to 
execute the neutrality laws; but should the Cubans themselves rise in 
revolt against the oppression which they suffer, no human power could 
prevent citizens of the United States and liberal-minded men of other 
countries from rushing to their assistance. Besides, the present is an 
age of adventure in which restless and daring spirits abound in every 
portion of the world. 

It is not improbable, therefore, that Cuba may be wrested from Spain 
by a successful revolution; and in that event she will lose both the 
Island and the price which we are now willing to pay for it — a price 
far beyond what was ever paid by one people to another for any 
province. 

It may also be remarked that the settlement of this vexed question, 
by the cession of Cuba to the United States, would forever prevent the 
dangerous complications between nations to which it may otherwise give 
birth. 

It is certain that, should the Cubans themselves organize an insurrec- 
tion against the Spanish government, and should other independent 
nations come to the aid of Spain in the contest, no human power could, 
in our opinion, prevent the people and government of the United States 
from taking part in such a civil war in support of their neighbors and 
friends. 

But if Spain, dead to the voice of her own interest, and actuated by 
stubborn pride and a false sense of honor, should refuse to sell Cuba 
to the United States, then the question will arise, What ought to be the 
course of the American government under such circumstances ? 

Self-preservation is the first law of nature with states as well as with 
individuals. All nations have, at different periods, acted upon this 
maxim. Although it has been made the pretext for committing flagrant 
injustice, as in the partition of Poland and other similar cases which 
history records, yet the principle itself, though often abused, has always 
been recognized. 

The United States has never acquired a foot of territory except by 
fair purchase, or, as in the case of Texas, upon the free and voluntary 
application of the people of that independent state, who desired to blend 
their destinies with our own. 

Even our acquisitions from Mexico are no exception to this rule 
because, although we might have claimed them by the right of conquest 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTV. 1 77 

in a just war, yet we purchased them for what was then considered by 
both parties a full and ample equivalent. 

Our past history forbids that we should acquire the island of Cuba 
without the consent of Spain, unless justified by the great law of self- 
preservation. We must, in any event, preserve our own conscious rec- 
titude and our own self-respect. 

Whilst pursuing this course we can afford to disregard the censures of 
the world, to which we have been so often and so unjustly exposed. 

After we have offered Spain a price for Cuba far beyond its present 
value, and this shall have been refused, it will then be time to consider 
the questons, does Cuba, in the possession of Spain seriously endanger 
our internal peace and the existence of our cherished Union ? 

Should this question be answered in the affirmative, then, by every 
law, human and divine, we shall be justified in wresting it from Spain, 
if we possess the power; and this upon the very same principle that 
would justify an individual in tearing down the burning house of his 
neighbor if there were no other means of preventing the flames from de- 
stroying his own home. 

Under such circumstances we ought neither to count the cost nor re- 
gard the odds which Spain might enlist against us. We forbear to enter 
into the question, whether the present condition of the Island would jus- 
tify such a measure. We should, however, be recreant to our duty, be 
unworthy of our gallant forefathers, and commit base treason against 
our posterity, should we permit Cuba to be Africanized and become a 
second San Domingo, with all its attendant horrors to the white race, 
and suffer the flames to extend to our own neighboring shores, seriously 
to endanger, or actually to consume, the fair fabric of our Union. 

We fear that the course and current of events are rapidly tending 
toward such a catastrophe. We, however, hope for the best, though we 
ought certainly to be prepared for the worst. 

We also forbear to investigate the present condition of the questions 

at issue between the United States and Spain. A long series of injuries 

to our people have been committed in Cuba by Spanish officials, and are 

unredressed. But recently a most flagrant outrage on the rights of 

American citizens, and on the flag of the United States, was perpetrated 

in the harbor of Havana under circumstances which, without immediate 

redress, would have justified a resort to measures of war in vindication 

of national honor. That outrage is not only unatoned, but the Spanish 

government has deliberately sanctioned the acts of its subordinates, and 

assumed the responsibility attaching to them. 
C— II 



178 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Nothing could more impressively teach us the danger to which those 
peaceful relations it has ever been the policy of the United States to 
cherish with foreign nations, are constantly exposed, than the circum- 
stances of that case. Situated as Spain and the United States are, the 
latter have forborne to resort to extreme measures. 

But this course cannot, with due regard to their own dignity as an in- 
dependent nation, continue; and our recommendations, now submitted, 
are dictated by the firm belief that the cession of Cuba to the United 
States, with stipulations as beneficial to Spain as those suggested, is the 
only effective mode of settling all past differences, and of securing the 
two countries against future collisions. 

We have already witnessed the happy results for both countries which 
followed a similar arrangement in regard to Florida. 

Yours, very respectfully, James Buchanan, 

J. Y. Mason, 
Pierre Soule. 

Hon. Wm. L. Marcy, Secretary of State. 

It was a good while before the people of the United 
States ceased to be too much surprised to have clear 
understanding of the full purport of the Ostend mani- 
festo, and of the Cuban policy of slavery extension, of 
which it was an expression. 

There was a strange frankness about the proceedings 
of the three ministers, out of our diplomatic line or 
method, if we had one that could be defined. The 
whole proceeding, it is easy to see, was mortally offen- 
sive to Spain, and the offer to purchase the Island only 
made the insult the keener. The touch of our presiden- 
tial strategy, it must be confessed, was rather clumsy 
to be acceptable. 

At this time Stephen A. Douglas was the " Young 
America" and "manifest destiny" man of the democ- 
racy to succeed Pierce in the presidency, and the words 
"manifest destiny " meant Cuba. There were strong 
articles in the reviews, and the idea was abroad that 
Douglas was to be president, and Cuba ours, as a matter 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I 79 

of course. But there was a destiny not manifest to Mr. 
Douglas, and it was the nomination and election, in 
1856, of James Buchanan, the first signer of the Ostend 
manifesto, to be president of the United States. Mr. 
Soule was prominent in the Cincinnati convention that 
nominated Buchanan, and Breckinridge and the Pierce 
administration was favorable to the succession of 
Buchanan, who was expected to press the annexation of 
Cuba at all hazards, and he would have done so, no 
doubt, if the questions that resulted in war among our- 
selves had not diverted our tendencies. 

There is reason to think the deciding influence that 
elevated Buchanan to the oreat office was the Cuban 
enterprise. If it had not been for that. Young Ameri- 
can Douglas would have been president, and there 
would have been incalculable changes, of which it 
is very vain to speculate. 

It seemed for some years that Mr. Douglas was the 
one man in the country sure to be president. He was 
immensely popular in the Northwest and had a strong 
hold in the South. He had a grand voice and was a 
brainy man in the cultivation of his reputation among 
the people. 

His first great stroke in Congress was his speech for 
the restoration of the fine imposed by a crank judge in 
New Orleans upon General Jackson before he beat the 
British, for his declaration of martial law, and he 
had Jackson's blessing for that. He made great pro- 
gress for a young man, and was vigorous and aggres- 
sive as a speaker and a man of policy. He had done, 
his share in exciting attention to the position of Cuba 
relative to the United States, and shaping the course of 
his party to the immediate annexation of the Island. 



l80 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The cabinet of Mr. Pierce was strongly southern in 
tendency, and the president was firmly for the rights 
assumed by the leaders in that section. The Ostend 
conference took the direction of Cuba's destiny, so far 
as we were concerned, out of the hands of Mr. Douglas, 
and Mr. Buchanan was so placed as to get the usufruct 
of it. The South did not sustain Douglas at Cincin- 
nati when Buchanan came to the front, and the south- 
ern crisis came on, Douglas siding against the sec- 
tional extremists of his party on the ultra doctrine that 
loomed behind the repeal of the Missouri compromise, 
and going further than prudence counseled in confront- 
ing Lincoln in their celebrated debates. The result 
was the slaughter of Douglas in the Charleston con- 
vention, the division of the Democratic party, the elec- 
tion of Abraham Lincoln, and the great war of the 
states and sections. 

The personal power ot Douglas was very considerable. 
He had qualities very different and, as an executive 
man, superior to those of Buchanan, who was a polished 
gentleman but not a natural leader as Douglas was. 
Unquestionably, Douglas would have been president 
instead of Buchanan or instead of Lincoln, probably 
both, if it had not been for the help Buchanan got from 
his Cuban affiliations, and the development of a south- 
ern policy that Douglas could not be depended upon 
to consent complacently to make his rule of life the 
performance of his purposes. As president he would 
have been too formidable for a faction of his party. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. l8l 



CHAPTER XII. 

ENGLISH FAILURE IN THE WEST INDIES. 

The Testimony of the Eminent Historian, James Anthony Froude — 
The Mismanagement of the English Islands by Free Trade Orators 
— Negro Predominance — The Spanish Islands are Peopled with the 
Children of Spaniards — Black Labor and Beet Sugar — Cuba and 
the United States, as an Englishman puts the Questions of Destiny. 

The most instructive work on the West Indies is that 
of James Anthony Froude, who visited those islands 
ten years ago with all his prejudices and powers, and 
gave the result to the world in an attractive volume. 
His complaint, which runs through the work, is that the 
orator demagogues of England, and he refers expressly 
to Mr. Gladstone, had misgoverned the colonies and 
impaired the empire. "The West India Colonies," 
says Froude, "had once been more to the English 
'than casual seedlings' left to grow or wither accord- 
ing to their own strength." 

More than any other writer, Froude has illuminated 
the questions we must have in mind in contemplation 
of the problem of the annexation. He goes to the bot- 
tom of history at once, saying the West Indies "had 
been regarded as precious jewels which hundreds of 
thousands of English lives had been sacrificed to tear 
from France and Spain. The Caribbean Sea was the 
cradle of the naval empire of Great Britain. There 
Drake and Hawkins intercepted the golden stream that 
flowed from Panama into the exchequer at Madrid, and 
furnished Philip with the means to carry on his war with 



1 82 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the reformation." And "in those waters the men were 
formed and trained who drove the armada through the 
channel into wreck and ruin. In those waters the cen- 
turies which followed, France and England fought for 
the ocean empire, and England won it — won it on the 
day when her own politicians' hearts had failed them 
and all the powers of the world had combined to humil- 
iate her, and Rodney shattered the French fleet, saved 
Gibraltar and avenged Yorktown." 

We have here one of the historical pictures for which 
Froude's writings are famous, and behold in the West 
Indies one of the centres of imperial influence upon the 
world. He has not a high opinion of the black man 
who needs first, according to this political philosopher, 
to be saved from himself — and the West Indies should 
have been governed on the model of the Eastern Em- 
pire of England, and not according to the politics of 
eloquence. And presently Froude comes to the source 
of wealth in the Island, saying: 

Once the West Indies had a monopoly of the sugar trade. Steam 
and progress have given them a hundred natural competitors; and on the 
back of these came the unnatural bounty, the new beet-root sugar com- 
petition. Meanwhile the expense of living increased in the days of 
inflated hope and " unexampled prosperity." Free trade, whatever its 
immediate consequences, was to make everybody rich in the end. When 
the income of an estate fell short one year it was to rise in the next, and 
the money was borrowed to make ends meet. When it didn't rise, 
more money was borrowed; and there is now hardly a property in the 
Island that is not loaded to the sinking point. Tied to sugar-growing, 
Barbadoes has no second industry to fall back upon. The blacks who 
are heedless and light hearted, increase and multiply. 

Here is a lesson in political economy profound as the 
picturesque in history from the same hand is brilliant; 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I 85 

and the sketch of Havana which follows is very strik- 
ing and true, and has application to the Cuban policy. 

Havana is a city of palaces, a city of streets and plazas, of col- 
onnades and towers, and churches and monasteries. We English have 
built in these islands as if we were but passing visitors, wanting only 
tenements to be occupied for a time. The Spaniards built as they 
built in Castile; built with the same material, the white limestone that 
they found in the new world as well as in the old. The palaces of the 
nobles in Havana, the resid.ence of the governor, the convents, the 
cathedral, are a reproduction of Burgos or Valladolid, as if from some 
Aladin's lamp the Castilian city has been taken up and set down again 
upon the shores of the Caribbean Sea. The buildings are on the old 
massive model, and however it may be with us and whatever the event- 
ual fate of Cuba, the Spanish race has taken root there, and is visibly 
destined to remain. They have poured their own people into it. In 
Cuba alone there are ten times as many Spaniards as there are English 
and Scotch in all our West Indies together, and Havana is ten times 
the size of the largest of our West Indian cities. 

Froude touched the torment of the Island when he 
said : " A few' years since the Cubans born were on the 
eve of achieving their independence like their brothers 
in Mexico and South America. Perhaps they will yet 
succeed. Spanish, at any rate, they are to the bone and 
marrow, and Spanish they will continue." Here we strike 
an error, and the mistakes of this writer are rock-built. 
The Cuban is not the Spaniard. He is an evolution. 
He has been taught the value of liberty in a hard school, 
and when he has the force to accomplish it, he is pre- 
pared for enfranchisement and Republican government.* 



* Froude, writing of the Union Club in Havana, and startled by the names of 
gentlemen there that represented the grand old houses of Spain, this which is an 
example of accuracy occurs : The house of Columbus ought to be there also, for 
there is still a Christophe Colon, the direct linear representative of the discov- 
erer, disguised under the title of the Ducjue de Veragua. A perpetual pension of 



1 86 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

It is the forced conclusion of this historian that the 
English did well by Havana when they abandoned it 
after they captured it in 1762, and he goes on "the 
Spaniards have done more to Europeanize their islands 
than we have with ours. They have made Cuba Span- 
ish — Trinidad, Moninica, St. Lucia, Granada, have never 
been English at all, and Jamaica and Barbadoes are 
ceasing to be English. Cuba is a second home to the 
Spaniards, a permanent addition to their soil. We are 
as birds of passage, temporary residents for transient 
purposes with no home in our islands at all. Once we 
thought them worth fighting for, and as long as it was 
a question of ships and cannon, we made ourselves 
supreme rulers of the Caribbean Sea ; yet the French 
and Spaniards will probably outlive us there." Then 
comes the point that the French and Spaniards in the 
West Indies will probably " Remain as Satellites of the 
United States T 

And next we have, page 293, this powerful testimony 
from one certainly not disposed to flatter us : 

The opinion in Cuba was and is, that America is a residuary legatee 
of all the islands, Spanish and English equally, and that she will be 
forced to take charge of them in the end, whether she likes it or not. 
Spain governs unjustly and corruptly ; the Cubans will not rest till they 
are free from her, and if once independent, they will throw themselves 
on American protection. 

The most comprehensive and apt testimony of all is 
this, pages 316 and 317: 



$20,000 per year was granted to the great Christophe and his heirs for ever as a 
charge on the Cuban revenue. It has been paid to the family through all changes 
of dynasty and forms of government and is paid to them still. But the Duque 
resides in Spain and the present occupation of him, I was informed, is the breed- 
ing and raising bulls for the Plaza Toros at Savill?. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 1 8/ 

The Americans are the freest people in the world ; but in 

THEIR freedom THEY HAVE TO OBEY THE FUNDAMENTAL LAWS OF THE 

Union. Again and again in the West Indies Mr. Motley's words 

CAME BACK TO ME : " To BE TAKEN INTO THE AMERICAN UnION IS TO BE 

ADOPTED INTO PARTNERSHIP." To belong to a crown colony of the 
British Empire, as things stand, is no partnership at all. It is to belong 
to the power which sacrifices, as it has always sacrificed, the interest of 
its dependencies to its own. The blood runs freely through every vein 
and artery of the American body corporate. Every single citizen feels 
his share in the life of his nation. Great Britain leaves her crown col- 
onies to take care of themselves, refuses what they ask, and forces on 
them what they had rather be without. If I were a West Indian, I 
should feel that under the stars and stripes I should be safer than I was at 
present from political experimenting. I should have a market in which to 
sell my produce where I should be treated as a friend ; I should have a 
power behind me and protecting me, and I should have a future to which I 
could look forward with confidence. America would restore me a home 
and life ; Great Britain allows me to sink, contenting herself with advising 
me to be patient. Why should I continue loyal when my loyalty was so con- 
temptuously valued ? But I will not believe that it will come to this. 

The English historian goes on to declare that the 
planters of the West Indies ceased to be useful to Eng- 
land, and adds: 

We practiced our virtues vicariously at their expense; we had the 
praise and honor, they had the suffering. They begged that the eman- 
cipation might be gradual; our impatience to clear our reputation re- 
fused to wait. Their system of cultivation being deranged, they peti- 
tioned for protection against the competition of countries where slavery 
continued. The request was natural, but could not be listened to, be- 
cause to grant it might raise infinitesimally the cost of the British work- 
man's breakfast. They struggled on, and even when a new rival rose 
in the beet-root sugar, they refused to be beaten. The European pow- 
ers, to save their beet-root, went on to support it with a bounty. 
Against the purse of foreign governments the sturdiest individuals can- 
not compete. Defeated in a fight which had become unfair, the plant- 
ers looked and looked in vain to their own government for help. Finding 
none, they turned to their kindred in the United States; and there, at 



1 88 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

last, they found a hand held out to them. The Americans were willing, 
though at a loss of two millions and a half of revenue, to admit the poor 
West Indians to their own market. But a commercial treaty was neces- 
sary; and a treaty could not be made without the sanction of the 
English government. The English government, on some fine-drawn 
crotchet, refused to colonies which were weak and helpless, what they 
would have granted without a word, if demanded by Victoria or New 
South Wales, whose resentment they feared. 

There could not be a more destructive denunciation 
of the British colonial system or a more admirable pre- 
sentation of the advantages that we possess. We have 
room for states, and Cuba is at the gates of the Gulf 
that is our southern boundary, and belongs, in spite of 
Spanish monopoly, to our commercial system. No Eng- 
lishman could speak with higher authority on this sub- 
ject than James Anthony Froude, and no one has 
uttered more weighty words for the cause of the annex- 
ation of Cuba to the American Union. This is the policy 
of patriotism. 

The following extract, from a message of President 
John Quincy Adams, notes the state of public interest in 
Cuba at the time Spain was losing her great colonies on 
the continent : 

The condition of the islands of Cuba and Porto Rico is of deeper im- 
port, and more immediate bearing upon the present interest and future 
prospects of our Union. The correspondence herewith transmitted will 
show how earnestly it has engaged the attention of the government. 
The invasion of both those islands by the united forces of Mexico and 
Colombia, is avowedly among the objects matured by the belligerent 
states at Panama. The convulsions to which, from the peculiar compo- 
sitions of their population, they would be liable in the event of such an 
invasion, and the danger therefrom resulting of their falling, ultimately, 
into the hands of some European power other than Spain, will not admit of 
our looking at the consequences, to which the Congress of Panama may 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 189 

lead, with indifference. It is unnecessary to enlarge upon this topic, or 
to say, more than all, our efforts in reference to this interest will be w 
preserve the existing state of things. 

The italicized lines show the tender places in the 
public mind of that time. 

In a volume, " Cuba and the Cubans," heretofore 
quoted, pleading the cause of Cuba, and giving in his- 
toric form the grievances her people held against Spain, 
and glimpses of destiny, we read : 

It is certain that the government of the United States did not hesitate 
to sympathize with the Greeks in their struggle for liberty, and were only 
prevented by a constitutional objection from granting them substantial 
national aid. To preserve a settled state of things, the United States, 
as has been shown, promptly interfered to prevent the invasion of Cuba 
by Mexico and Colombo. How far the same government ought now to 
interfere, again to preserve things from change, or how far it ought to 
forward the change, it is not necessary to discuss here. 

Spain is too weak much longer to hold her Cuban possessions. It 
needs but to strike the blow, and independence is achieved to the Island. 
In this instance the first step is emphatically half the journey, and that 
step will not long be delayed. 

Cuba has the power, as well as the will and wisdom, to be free. It 
cannot be kept forever in bonds, endowed as she is with a population of 
1,200,000; with a revenue of $20,000,000; with the intercourse and light 
attending $60,000,000 of outward and inward trade; with a territory 
equal to that of the larger states; with a soil teeming with the choicest 
productions; with forests of the most precious woods; with magnificent 
and commanding harbors; with an unmatched position as the warder of 
the Mexican Gulf, and the guardian of the communication with the 
Pacific; Cuba, the Queen of the x\merican Islands, will not consent 
always to remain a manacled slave; and when the chains are to break, 
the United States can no more say, "Cuba is naught to us," than Cuba 
can detach herself from her anchorage in her portals of the American 
sea, or her sentinelship over against the entrance of the thousand- 
armed Mississippi. 

Then arises the question, what is to become of Cuba? She will re- 



190 THE STORY OF CUBA. . 

main independent ; she will come under the protection of England, or 
she will form one of the confederated United States. 

So far as the interests of Cuba are concerned, a connection with Eng- 
land of the advantageous character which that country would inevitably 
grant to the Island, or annexation to the United States, would be more for 
its welfare and prosperity, than for her to maintain the position of soli- 
tary independence. It is rational, then, to suppose she would adopt one 
of the two remaining positions. 

That Cuba should ever fall under the power or influence of England 
is a thing simply out of the question. The United States cannot permit 
any European power to erect a Gibraltar that will command both north 
and south, and which can at any moment cut 'i two the trade between 
the Gulf and Atlantic states, and break up at pleasure the sea communi- 
cation between New Orleans and New York. In a military point of 
view, Cuba locks up in a closed ring the whole sweep of the Mexican 
Gulf. Its 700 miles of coast is one mighty fortress ; each one of its 
hundred hill-crowned bays is a haven of shelter to an entire navy, and an 
outpost to sentinel every movement of offense, and to bar out every act 
of hostile import. 

Standing like a warder in the entrance of the Gulf of Mexico, yet 
stretching far to the east, so as to overlook and intercept any unfriendly 
demonstration to either of the great thoroughfares of South America or 
the Pacific, it is in a position to overawe the adjacent islands, and watch 
and defend all the outside approaches to the Isthmus routes to the 
Pacific, while it guards the portals of the vast inland sea, the reservoir 
of the Mexican and Mississippi trade, the rendevouz of California tran- 
sit, and, what has not yet been duly heeded, the outlet of a new-born 
mineral wealth, which is yet to control the mineral markets of Christendom. 

In short, it makes a complete bulwark of the Mexican Gulf. 

This is all true now, except the non-fulfilment of the 
prophecy of speedy release — rwhich was written half a 
century ago — from the yoke of Spain, and there has 
been the immense change of the abolishment of slavery 
in the United States and Cuba, perfecting the prepara- 
tions for the annexation of Cuba on the lines of liberty. 

The testimony of the English historian, that his coun- 
trymen are not competent to take care of Cuba, is 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. I9I 

important and pertinent, and will be more and more 
seriously regarded. The latest thing is a league of the 
West Indies with European protection, but the Island 
has a nobler destiny, and what it is any atlas of the 
Americas displays. 



192 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE CITY OF HAVANA. 

Life in the Capital of Cuba during tlie War Time. — Hotel Apartments 
and Furniture — Breakfasts — Barber Shops — Bar Rooms — Narrow 
Streets— The Double Standard— The Water Jug— A Hot Weather 
Town — A Tender-Necked People — The Casino and the Castle and 
the Royal Palms in the Garden. 

Havana has many marks of antiquity and of a place 
w^here the expenditure of money has been lavish. It is 
largely a city of palaces on streets that would be 
regarded as alleys in New York. There are elegant 
marble structures on narrow and dirty thoroughfares, 
and many very respectable houses wretchedly situated. 
The people are not allowed to build as they please. 
There is an official engineer whose taste must be 
regarded. The habit of the builders is thick walls, 
high ceilings, tile floors and roofs ; solid and lofty por- 
ticos ; all expert preparations for hot weather, and yet 
the heat is not so formidable for its excess as its con- 
tinuity. It is very rare the temperature reaches 90° — 
89° Fahrenheit is called the maximum and 50° the min- 
imum. Cities in our Northern States show figures of 
30° below zero and 105° above ; a range of 135,° while 
in Havana the degrees between the extremes are but 
40. The even temperature of Cuba is accounted for by 
the relations of the sun and the ocean and the generous 
temper of the winds. 

The view given of the city in this volume is one 




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HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 195 

not familiar. It is Havana as seen from the opposite side 
of the harbor, the mouth of which is in the distance and 
the tower of Moro Castle on the right. The white lime 
stone, of which Havana is chiefly built, appears to 
advantage. The city is of remarkably massive struc- 
tures. There has been much marble used, and the strong 
towers and colonnades are of imposing presence ; 
and such is the strength of the, walls and the scarcity 
of inflammable material, the roofs and floors being of 
tile, a great deal of bombardment would be required to 
do serious damage. The key of the city in a military 
sense is the fortress on elevated ground between the 
cemetery and the captain-general's garden, and that is 
always garrisoned by a most reliable regiment and 
equipped with modern artillery. 

The view of Moro Castle that we give is not the one 
most popular, which displays the city also, but it is that 
seen on the left by the passengers on the New York 
steamers arriving and also on the right in departing. 
As we see the castle in this drawing, Havana is on the 
right, the harbor directly ahead, and the front of the 
fortification looks upon the Atlantic, the course to 
Florida being directly from the sail-boat, over the rocks 
on the extreme left ; and there is said to be many cav- 
erns, through which the rush of the waves makes 
music ; but the tides are not sufficient to cause a com- 
motion, and the winds, therefore, are solely responsible 
for the agitation. In the caves, the sharks that haunt 
the Havana harbor are said to be at home. 

Moro is not now regarded a very strong fortress. 
The real reliance for the protection of the harbor is in 
fortifications on the hills beyond, from which the Brit- 
ish and Yankees, under General Putnam, pounded the 



196 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

castle when they took the town and looted it, Lord 
Albemarle's share of cold cash being about ;^ioo,ooo. 

One of the most striking features of the scenery of cul- 
tivated Cuba is the Avenue of Palms. The Royal Palm 
is the most stately of trees. The trunk is so tough that 
it will often turn rifle balls that would strike through an 
ordinary wood. The palms rarely attain the height of 
100 feet, but their grace makes them seem taller. 
When the flaunting leaf in order falls, it brings with 
it some feet of green husk of the tree which, as it 
grows, sheds the lower leaf always, so that there is the 
elegant trunk with its splendid plumage held on high, 
feathery and brilliant. The cast off envelope is used to 
cover bales of tobacco and the whole tree is admi- 
rably adapted to the wants of the people. Standing in 
delicate grandeur along the roads, these palms remind 
one of the Lombardy poplars trimmed to a top-knot of 
foliage that line the turnpikes of France, but the palm 
seems to tell tales in whispers of Egypt and the Orient. 
Doubtless it was the palm in Cuba that confirmed 
to Columbus his fancy when he landed, that he had 
found Cipango or Cathay — lands of Asiatic mystery. 

The once opulent planters of the Island were fond, 
in the days of pomp, of approaching their country 
palaces through avenues of royal palms, and now the 
solemn, neglected trees tell of the glories of the days 
that are gone. 

One of the beauties of Havana, of the most venerable 
associations, is the chapel erected on the spot where the 
first mass was celebrated in the New World. The ser- 
vice was under a noble tree, one of the giants of the 
Cuban forests, the Cieba ; and not that tree, but one of 
the kind, rises above the snowy marble of the chapel 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 197 

and is reverently regarded. The location is between the 
palace and the landing. 

Havana is paved with granite and harder stone 
blocks. The streets are excessively noisy, and, as a 
rule, unclean. It is thought remarkable in Washington 
city that dust arises within four hours after a shower. 
In Havana one hour after the streets are flooded, under 
the flaming sun and high wind, dust resumes its sway. 

The most splendid residences in the city are of mod- 
est exteriors, but when you walk in, there are "marble 
halls " to remember in dreams, and areas surrounded 
with carved galleries, and floored as with solid snow, 
where the merchant princes and sugar and tobacco 
planters, before the evil days, sat in caned chairs and 
smoked under the stars. 

There is not a fireplace to warm a room, or a window 
shielded with glass in the city, but there are openings 
from all sorts of structures on the streets — apertures 
guarded by bars of steel, often decorative, always 
strong, and each with two sets of curtains, and two of 
shutters ; and there is one great charm, the highest 
achievement of architecture is ventilation. 

The beautiful picture, from a photograph of the cor- 
ridor of the Havana casino, is valuable for displaying 
the splendor of the cool interiors of the highest class of 
buildings the Spanish race have reared in the tropics. 
It has been said that the tropical Spaniard is an exag- 
geration of the Spaniard at home — the Spanish charac- 
teristics, made picturesque, appear. The general expres- 
sion of Havana, as compared with that of the grand old 
cities in Spain, gives a hint of this. 

My gigantic eastern window, twenty feet high and 
eight feet wide, has the brilliant narrow frame of col- 

C— 12 



198 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

ored glass and two sets of shutters, the outer one with 
open work, by which the air may be regulated, and the 
inner of solid timber, behind which one might laugh 
a siege to scorn, if trouble came in that form. The 
shutters opened, the windows are festooned with lace 
curtains, and beyond, far out over the street, is a white 
balcony. 

When I enjoy one of many rocking chairs on this 
marble projection, the snowy form of Isabella, shining in 
the light of the moon and the electric lamps, is straight 
before me, and far down the Avenue of Parks shines 
the light of the famous Moro Castle — not a powerful 
fortress, any more, they say, but a gloomy, picturesque 
structure at which the American girls passing that way 
will forever, no doubt, snap their Kodaks. This would 
be a fine place to burn Cuban tobacco. The window 
shutters and door are of blue frames and gray panels. 
The mighty walls are a mournful green with gold mould- 
ing running around the ceiling and the door and the 
windows, and separating the corners that are a deeper 
blue than the great expanse of colors, from the other 
shade. There are in this enchanted apartment, including 
the floor, four distinct blues and three greens ; and I 
trace two other blue tints, and crimson and orange, and 
some specks of rainbow mixture in the spread on the 
bed, which one is supposed to pull over the knees when 
midnight cools the air in sultry midwinter ! The Span- 
ish yellow predominates in the upper and inner window 
curtains — but, as they are six feet beyond reach, one 
does not become familiar with them. There are scarlet 
trimmings around the canopies of mosquito curtains, 
that on a steel frame adorned with bronzes and mother- 
of-pearl, making the bed Oriental, as it were ; and the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 199 

ribbon loops that hold back the grauzy curtains of the 
bed are vivid crimson. The splendid Spanish arms on 
broad, golden shields, are at the head and foot of the 
sumptuous couch ; and there are curtains trimmed with 
lace that hide the legs of the steel bedstead, and have 
the effect of pantalets. 

I cannot make oath that the towering wardrobe, 
which has not a hook in it, and the elaborate washstand, 
and the superb commode are solid mahogany, but they 
should be ; and if a table with long, crooked, black legs, 
that stands against the wall, is not ebony, it is a fraud — 
and I do not care whether it is or not. There are so 
many frauds, so what is the difference ? Do not regard 
me as boastful about this bedroom, for it is but a type 
of the Cuban sleeping apartment. 

As far the breezy balcony, upon which there is room 
for more than one rocking chair — but it is quite vacant 
because too lonesome for one — the marble balcony, so 
cool and white, from which I hoped to see the Southern 
cross, but cannot — the fault being in the latitude, I be- 
lieve ; and as for the moon that climbs the divine sky 
of Cuba, we should say: " Roll on, silver moon; light the 
traveler on his way." If it were as big and magnetic as 
it was before the war, before the world knew war in my 
time, I would go down and buy the fragrant flowers 
that they silently sell apparently far into the nights ; 
but perched in my bower, so to say, catch the faint 
perfume and behold the blush of the roses, and am car- 
ried away by precious memories to the " land that is 
fairer than this," and hear once again loved voices sing- 
ing as long, long ago ; and the burden of the song is 
still, " Beautiful star, thou art so near and yet so far." 

The window shutters, mind, there is only a little col- 



200 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

ored glass in the windows, as the shutters naturally fall 
into their places, and, as the gorgeous bed is located, 
when my eyes open to the morning light, it streams 
in, red as blood. The glass covering that particular 
spot is a perfect circle, and it is divided, like a globe, 
into zones, only there are no temperate zones. The torrid 
one extends over all the temperate regions, and is a rich 
red, while the frozen poles are intensified sky blue. 

One must testify the regularity of the habits of the 
Cubans. There is sensitiveness to uniformity in the 
servants that gives one a hint of Chinese exactness. 
When I touch the button at the head of the bed at 7 
o'clock in the morning, and feel bound by the iron 
rules in the air to do it, a bearded friend appears in 
150 seconds, puts in a grim face on which there is no 
trace of a smile, and says one word, " Coffee ?" I nod 
like a wooden man, and say, " Good morning." Five 
minutes pass, there is a light knock, and a man, dressed 
in undershirt, breeches and shoes, appears, and bears 
on a silver waiter two silver pots, one with the handle 
for the right hand, holding black coffee, and one with 
the handle for the left hand, full of hot milk. 

There is a small roll of delicious bread and a smaller 
roll of good butter, and they never vary a hair's breadth ; 
two oranges, all the juicy cells opened by the keen knife 
that has shaved the skin away and not shed a drop of 
orange blood. The notable thing about the two 
oranges, next to it that they are good, is that usually they 
are of the same size ; but if one is larger than the average 
the other is that much smaller, and this is as invariable 
as if the oranges were weighed on scales that accounted 
for the hundredth part of an ounce. 

The coffee and oranges and bread and butter are not 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 20I 

your breakfast. The breakfast hour is 1 1 o'clock, and 
that meal begins with olives and radishes and sardines 
and several other delicacies ; then comes a broiled fish, a 
wall-eyed perch, with a dash of Spanish colors in his 
skin, and after chops, or steaks, eggs, or one of many 
omelets. Then come cucumbers, slender but long, and 
cut in thick slices, with oil and vinegar, pepper and salt. 
With cuts of cucumber, surrounded by slices of toma- 
toes, both vegetables juicy, the general effect is that de- 
scribed by the pious colored man when he undertook to 
tell about cold fat possum and sweet potatoes, and 
failed, but mentioned in despair, it was just " too good." 
Perhaps the Cuban ii o'clock breakfast does not con- 
duce to energy, but rather to meditation, especially if 
it is mingled with Spanish claret. 

There is exactness in the hotel service throughout. 
When the ii o'clock breakfast and 7 o'clock dinner 
come off, the same people appear at the same round 
tables, and dishes are served in an order and accord- 
ing to a system that must have its traditions, history, 
laws and mathematics. 

One may trust that whatever shall happen in the 
fields of battle in Cuba, or the Parliament of Spain, 
there will be nothing done that can disturb the peace- 
ful and perfect order of the bedrooms and dining- 
rooms of Havana, the attractions, manners and cus- 
toms of which must have grown, for they could not 
have been invented. 

The very northern or southern cities, as a rule, have 
narrow streets. Only in the temperate zone do you 
find ample thoroughfares. One notes this peculiarity of 
close building in the most northern and southern of 
my personal observation, Reyjkavik and Havana — the 



562 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

capitals of Iceland, that barely touches the Arctic region, 
and of Cuba, just within the tropical belt. The outer as 
well as the inner walls of the buildings are expected to 
shelter the people from excessive cold or heat. 

In Havana the important business streets are re- 
markably narrow, one containing many fine shops 
being but twenty-five feet from house to house, and, in 
consequence, the sidewalks on some of the squares 
cannot be traversed by two persons side by side ; and 
as the walks are a foot above the pavements, when one 
meets a pedestrian he has to put one leg over the 
curbstone and give room — that is unless both are slen- 
der and accommodating. There is so much of stepping 
off into the street done that it is important to do it 
gracefully, though the act itself is regarded as a matter 
of course. I have found it advantageous to glide 
behind a stout lady and follow her closely, the great 
majority of those she meets yielding her the wall and 
waiting with one leg off the sidewalk, until we have 
marched by in procession, as it were. 

When one comes to a square, with the sidewalk 
broad enough for two single files of the populace to 
proceed in opposite directions, there is a cheerful sense 
of relief. The roadways are so restricted in these 
streets that three carriages cannot move abreast. If 
one has stopped, so that the hubs protrude over the 
sidewalk, which is fashionable, carriages cannot pass 
on the space unoccupied. Care has to be taken that 
two carriages waiting, one on either side of the street, 
shall not be located exactly opposite each other, for if 
they did there would be a blockade ; and so on the great 
shopping streets carriages can move but one way. In 
many places awnings are spread from house to house 




AVENUE OF PAI.MS, HAVANA 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 205 

two stories high, covering' the whole street, and useful 
in resisting sunshine or rain. 

The cafes are especially large and handsome. It is 
curious to see in February the marble floors sprinkled 
with sawdust and dampened with a view to coolness, 
like beer halls in our own land in the thirsty days of 
July ; and it is still more conducive to geographical re- 
flection to eat in a hotel dining and breakfasting room 
on a level with the street, and find the favorite tables 
those nearest wide-open doors. 

There are three money standards in this country — 
American gold, Spanish gold, and silver, and there is a 
great time in close calculations. I noticed a n^wly- 
arrived American citizen in a cafe, treating three 
friends to beverages of their several selections, and par- 
taking of his own hospitality, and you will observe this 
means four drinks. Payment was made with an Ameri- 
can five-dollar gold piece, and, settling the account, he 
received in change a five- dollar Spanish gold piece and 
forty cents. 

He was so well pleased that he "treated" again, 
this time paying with the Spanish gold piece, and 
his change was five silver dollars and forty cents. 

"Now," said he, "I'm going to study out this thing 
and get up a scheme. It seems there is money to be 
made by taking to drink. The more liquor I buy, the 
more money I've got. This must be the double 
standard." 

There was twenty per cent, premium on American 
gold compared with Spanish, and twenty per cent, on 
Spanish gold as compared with silver, so my friend's 
computation was correct. He had out of $5.00 spent 
$1.20 in drink, and still had $5.80 in silver. 



206 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The money reformers and patriots here, I am in- 
formed, want " more money," in the sense of more 
kinds of money, and the financiers contemplate an ex- 
traordinary issue of paper. When that happens, my 
friend can pay for the drinks with a silver dollar and 
get back a paper dollar and a lot of change. Talking 
of the " double standard," why, the Cubans have the 
triple standard — two gold standards and one silver one, 
and, owing to our preservation of the " parity," our — 
silver paper stands at a premium over Spanish gold, 
and American silver beats the Spanish two to one. 

The average American barkeeper, no doubt, holds the 
Cuban brother in contempt, but he should not. They 
manufacture cocktails in Havana with great energy 
and rapidity. From the moment the compounder 
seizes two glasses and fills one with ice and swipes into 
the other the liquors and the bitters, and the sweets, 
and then, with a swinging motion, dashes the ice and 
fluids from glass to glass, clinking the crystal in a way 
that would delight a German's sense of sound, not a 
moment is lost, until after it is all in one glass and 
flung through a strainer into another that must be just 
brimming full, and then the assurance of the American 
appetite is expected to grasp the decoction with the 
same furious avidity with which it is compounded and 
well shaken before taken. It should not be forgotten 
that there is a large and very heavy glass and a small 
one. It is the latter from which you imbibe. The big 
one is planted, when its share of the work is accom- 
plished, in the centre of the counter with a bang, and 
the final thwack is given with an air of triumph and 
jocose gesture. 

The Cuban water jug is a delight, for, as a basis of 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 20/ 

joys, Havana has an abundance of pure water and a 
monument to the engineer who laid out the works. 
The jug is a round, brown one, with two holes in it 
near the handle, which is on top. One hole is, perhaps, 
an inch in diameter, to pour the water in, and the 
other small, the size of the hollow of a large quill, and 
this is in a nob that marks the place. It is the old story 
of the bung and the spigot. Filled with water, the jug 
is hung on a long iron rod, swinging from the top of 
the workroom, and located in a spot that is draughty. 
The currents of air make the thick, porous jug " per- 
spire," and the water is not ice water, but cool and 
wholesome. The Cuban way of drinking is not to 
touch the vessel with the lips, but to open the mouth 
and, holding up the jug, tip it until the water streams 
into the throat, making a curve and falling five or six 
inches, striking the root of the tongue. 

A series of parks bisect the city. There are fine 
shade trees, and they rise from deserts of sharp sand. 
Once in place of sand there was turf, but it was thought 
the grass was objectionable, and the sod was cut away. 

One of the old planter princes lives in a white marble 
mansion that is magnificently appointed, and in magni- 
tude and sumptuous taste would take high rank if lo- 
cated on one of the best streets in New York city, and 
yet the New Yorker would call the dingy street before 
his doors and windows, all fortified with iron rods 
that are very handsome, disgusting names. This gen- 
tleman has a large family, and insists that his sons with 
their wives, and daughters with their husbands, shall 
all live under his ample roof ; and he rejoices in many 
grandchildren. It is said the average of births in the 
house is one a month. 



208 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The cafe capacity of this city is enormous. There 
are hundreds that would be attractive in any city, all 
constructed to be airy, and they cook chicken almost 
as well as in Paris, and beat the Parisian salads. The 
lettuce is a dream, and as they dress it along with to- 
matoes, it allures one to excess. The claret is good, 
but the French have a patent on that which is pure 
as water ought to be, and adds the color of the rose 
to the fragrance of the vineyard. I have had here as 
tender beefsteaks as Delmonico ever served, and shall 
carry from this Island lasting regrets that the Spanish 
do not know how to cook fish. Fancy stewing a lovely 
silverside, and serving it with tomato sauce ! Let me 
say, before possibly forgetting, a word about olives. 
They are small and juicy and delicate and refreshing, 
and take the sting of a cigarette out of one's mouth as 
nothinof else can. The taste for little olives is one 
very easily acquired, and the trouble is the tendency 
to make a meal of them only. The Spanish have cul- 
tivated the omelet, and ought to make some compen- 
sation for spelling " eggs " " egss " ! The " grumbled 
e-g-s-s with onions " is a dish that stands trial, and pre- 
pares the stomach for serious employment. And, oh 
dear, the pineapples ! Honey in the comb that melts, 
honey and all, in the mouth, and is so satisfying one 
wants to drop gently into slumber and have visions of 
the gardens of the gods ! I do not dare more than hint 
at the mangoes and mames, and a brown pod of sweet 
cream that grows bigger than the average orange on 
bushes, and has a flavor that beats apple blossoms 
and clover fields. The dusky pod has a skin so thin 
that it is peeled with a spoon, and then one bulb is 
divided between three tall glasses — was the first time 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 209 

we tried it — crushed and watered until it looks like ice- 
cream soda at Huylers. Ice was added — the Cubans 
have delicious ice — home-made. A silver spoon with a 
long handle was inserted, and, though the month was 
February, the atmosphere was August, and we had val- 
uable thirsts quenched by quaffing the milky flood — 
no alcohol, thanks ! This fruity apotheosis is fresh from 
the " divine sky " of Cuba, that, Dana says, yields pure 
gold. I did not think he told the truth that time, but 
he did. And this same vegetable is convertible, at 
night especially, into a cup of blooming snow, that is 
as vanilla ice-cream might be if it were translated and 
frozen in heaven. 

I borrow this exquisite comparison from an account 
Joe Jefferson gave when he was so young it was a joke 
to play the part of an old man, in telling the ineffable 
heights to which the favorite Gulf of Mexico fish, the 
Pompino, ascended in the measure of merit. " The 
Pompino," said Jefferson, "is just the shad translated 
and caught without a hook in Heaven." But perhaps 
if one sought to find the limitations of the iridescent 
glories of the fruits of the tropics, a hint of the far-off 
line drawn upon the products that are the riches of 
everlasting summer, could be found in the story of Tom 
Corwin, who protested when a lady insisted upon pour- 
ing molasses into his coffee, that he feared she was 
making it "too sweet." "Dear Mr. Corwin," said she, 
"if it was all 'lasses, it could not be too sweet for 
you." 

The apples that grew in Ohio were good food for 
boys ; and there are those living who, before the 
Mexican war, assisted the pigs in assimilating the 
superfluous crop, and kept their teeth white gnawing 



2 10 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

pippins, who, even under the palms of Cuba, have 
grateful remembrances of the orchards of the Miami 
country. 

The noisy streets of Havana are very trying. In this 
land of prodigious rains and a fierce sun, a pavement 
of wood could hardly fail to be offensive. The wooden 
pavement does not smell nicely in Paris or London, 
and here the odor would be alarming. I fear asphalt 
would become pulpy. Turnpikes in town, however 
well made, would increase the plague of dust. One 
day I had a streak of luck — was in haste — called a cab- 
man and gave direction ; and lo ! he tore through the 
rattling streets at a speed equal to a jaunting car in 
Dublin when you have treated and tipped the driver. 
This is revolutionary, and I hope it will not be noticed 
by the authorities. I am told it never happened before. 

The business men of this city are bearing themselves 
bravely under very depressing circumstances. Many 
cannot be making expenses, but are holding on hope- 
fully, believing something will happen to close the war 
and allow a return to the conditions of prosperity. 

The day I was wafted across the harbor in a sail-boat, 
"my winged boat, a bird afloat," and took a cab, ac- 
companied by the administrator of the transportation, 
between the ship and the hotel, the people said it was 
cold, and looked upon those exposed to the inclem- 
ency of the weather with interest, The very coldest 
group of people I ever saw was in Venice, where the 
band played in St, Mark's Square, the festive Venetians 
out to hear the icy music were actually blue, and 
with chill despair gathered their cloaks around them 
and were as marble in dignity. 

It was my impression until now that Italy was a 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 213 

southern country as well as Cuba, but there is a differ- 
ence. The " cold day " in Havana I was happy to be 
able to walk a few minutes without an overcoat and 
not find myself in a profuse perspiration, but saw the 
drivers of the cabs believed the air dangerously frigid. 
When the Cuban is in trouble he generally gets it "in 
the neck," and he thinks a cold spell seizes mankind by 
the throat. His protection from chills is a scarf wound 
about under the chin. It is fun to see the cabman 
muffled to the ears, his nose and brow only visible, 
driving with a hump in his back, feeling that the 
mighty North is taking liberties in the Land of the 
Sun. 

It is only in exceptional cases that the Americans 
have the advantage of the Cubans in the services of 
barbers. We enjoy in Havana cool and spacious bar- 
ber shops, with reclining chairs, and the barber is as 
deliberate, artistic, and courteous as anywhere the 
state of one's hair is highly esteemed. My barber 
here is almost the barber of my soul. He is tall and 
erect, with military bearing, and, when I take his 
chair, lights a cigarette and puffs with evident pleas- 
ure while he adjusts a faultless towel and applies the 
lather with gravity and elaboration, and I behold under 
his nose a spark and an ash, that is momentarily 
expected to alight on my nose ! But this apprehension 
has never been justified. When the time comes to han- 
dle the razor, the cigarette is removed, a long jet of the 
precious smoke passes into space, and the mowing ma- 
chine is so deftly applied, that where there was a field 
of gray stubble there is soon a satin lawn. 

This city has sentiment in it. The mules in the ser- 
vice of the carters are decorated with colored tassels on 



214 ^^-^ STORY OF CUBA. 

their head harness, and apparently know they are 
admired, even as the gentlemen in London know 
they are admirable when they walk out with roses in 
their buttonholes. 

The cathedral of Havana is in a closely built quarter 
of the city, with a small granite-paved square in front 
and narrow side streets. The front is of venerable as- 
pect and imposing architecture — a heavy stone tower 
on either hand — the inside is ornate and brilliant. It is 
here the remains of Columbus — his bones in an urn — 
were believed to have been placed, when they were, if 
the treaty was executed, removed from San Domingo 
at the time that Island was ceded to France. The prob- 
ability is that they were deposited in Havana, and that 
the fraud alleged to have been perpetrated by which 
they were retained, while other bones were conveyed 
to meet the obligation, was itself a fraud. The bust of 
Columbus, in marble, on the wall where the bones are 
said to be, and probably are, is commonplace and true 
only to the type of men who were early in discovery 
and exploration of the West Indies. There has been 
laid inside the cathedral a ponderous and obstructive 
foundation for a monument to Columbus, but there will 
be nothing lamentable to grieve over if it always re- 
mains unfinished. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY, 21^ 



CHAPTER XIV. 

THE BRITISH AND PROVINCIAL CONQUEST OF CUBA. 

How the Island was Invaded, and Havana Captured, After a Bloody 
and Deadly Siege, in the Summer of 1762, by the British, Under 
Lord Albemarle, Helped Just in Time by a Force of 2,300 Men 
from Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey, Under General 
Lyman and Colonel Israel Putnam, and then Returned to the 
Spaniards — Frightful Losses of the Invaders — Havana Looted, and 
a Prize Money Scandal. The Greed of The British Officers — Did 
the Provincial Troops Establish a Preemption Right to the Island ? 
— Colonial and English Sympathy — Washington's Brother in the 
British Service in the West Indies — A Connecticut Chaplain's 
Journal of the Plague at Havana — Sad Fate of General Lyman. 

When we consider the British capacity to possess 
good land, and habit of holding fast all they get, and 
recall how highly the West Indies were esteemed by 
Europeans in the last century, and that Cuba was 
worth all the rest of the Archipelago in natural pro- 
ductions and exhaustless fertility, in commanding situ- 
ation, military and comixiercial, and in commodious 
harbors, it is the strangest of Cuban stories that this 
priceless Pearl of the Antilles should have been the 
spoil of one of the greatest English expeditions that 
ever crossed the Atlantic, and handed back to Spain, 
as if with His Britannic Majesty's festive compliments, 
as an incident of a transaction not extraordinary. 

This happened fourteen years before our Declaration 
of Independence, and perhaps the British idea was their 
American colonies possessed so much land there was no 



2l6 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

occasion for more. If it had been within English 
statesmanship to contemplate the grandeur of the 
Republic of the United States, their sense of pro- 
priety as the holders of the soil would surely have 
impressed them that Cuba should be identified in 
politics as in commerce with the bulk and potency of 
the continent. 

After a struggle that was dangerous, and cost thou- 
sands of lives, Havana, with about one-fourth of Cuba, 
was surrendered to Lord Albemarle, and if it had been 
the will of the British government, the whole Island 
would have belonged to the crown. There was a 
diplomatic quirk, and Cuba was Spanish again, and 
when our original colonies became states and United 
States, we acquired Florida and Louisiana, and were 
careless about the land between the Mississippi and 
the Pacific, until we found the Mexicans in our way, 
and were at the expense of war to regain Texas and 
California, 

Froude, the British historian, delivers the judgment 
that it was well the British gave up Cuba, after her 
fair conquest, to Spain, because the Spaniards gave 
their own blood to the colonies, and built in Cuba, not 
light structures, but with ponderosity, as in the old 
peninsula, the most effective method of declaring them- 
selves at home and resolute upon permanency. 
In many ways British sovereignty in the Island would 
have changed our fortunes. Almost positively, even 
after the American colonies had separated from the 
mother-country, and Rodney defeated the French 
finally in the West Indies, it would have been within the 
power and policy of Great Britain, had she continued 
to hold Cuba as a possession, to have captured New 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 21 j 

Orleans, and fenced us in on the west with the Missis 
sippi as was done on the north with the St. Lawrence. 

The Enghsh must have had a period of modesty, if 
not timidity, for not only was Rodney not acting 
under urgency from home when he won his tre- 
mendous victory over the French — his activity was 
disapproved, and orders to be quiet were on the way 
when he took the responsibility for an aggression that 
gave his country almost unparalleled prestige, compen- 
sating her largely for the loss of the heart of North 
America, and winning for himself a place among the 
loftiest reputations in the history of naval heroes. 

The same nerveless faltering that surrendered Cuba 
was that which sought to restrain Rodney. If there 
had been the courage in the conduct of imperial affairs 
in 1762 that appeared forty years later, England might 
have been reinforced in the Napoleonic wars with 
American troops, as she was in the great French and 
Indian wars in the middle of the eighteenth century, 
and in the enterprise, the fruit of which was the futile 
conquest of Cuba, from which the British general and 
admiral sailed away laden with booty of gold and sil- 
ver, and with a fleet of Spanish ships caught in the 
harbor of Havana. This episode reads like a romance 
of piracy, for when the spoil was divided, and the high 
officers got their share, and the dead were buried, the 
great fleet departed and the Spaniards held, after all, 
the Pearl of the Antilles. 

Lord Albermarle first appeared off the coast of 
Cuba with an enormous armament — nineteen ships of 
the line and six frigates and nearly two hundred trans- 
port and slave ships — and landed June 17th, 1762. The 

capture of Havana was the object of the expedition, 

c— i.^ 



2l8 , THE STORY OF CUBA. 

but the resistance of the Spanish was resolute and the 
cUmate deadly to the troops that had been serving 
in northern latitudes. 

The fact has not been as prominent in our histories 
as it should have been that, on the 28th of July, in the 
midst of the sickly season, when five thousand British 
troops and three thousand sailors were sick and de- 
spondent, scratching" the burning" stones to throw up the 
trenches from which they were besieging the Moro 
Castle, suffering from the frightful heat and perishing 
with thirst, for water was scarce, and there was daily a 
fearful list of deaths — when there was a dread appre- 
hension that the season of hurricanes was coming, 
there arrived from New York a welcome reinforce- 
ment of twenty-three hundred men under General 
Lyman of Connecticut, one thousand men from that 
state, eight hundred from New York, and five hun- 
dred from New Jersey. General Lyman and Colonel 
Israel Putnam had been in the Indian and French 
wars together, and raised the regiment of one thou- 
sand men in their state that took so decided a part in 
the Cuban conquest. Lyman was in command of the 
bricfade, and Lieutenant-Colonel Putnam was actinor 
colonel of the Connecticut regiment. 

As they approached the coast of Cuba there was a 
storm, and the ship, carrying Putnam's fortunes and five 
hundred men, was driven on rocks about thirty miles 
from Havana and totally lost, but owing to Yankee 
skill every man was saved on rafts constructed of the 
spars and other timbers of the vessel lashed together 
by harpoon lines, of which there was a good stock 
aboard. It was one of the most remarkable escapes 
in the records of shipwreck, and not only were the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 219 

Connecticut men saved from the rage of the sea, but 
they were not, when cast away on a hostile shore, 
molested by the Spaniards. The whole force of the 
provincial troops joined Lord Albemarle's army in 
good form, reporting in fine health and zealous for 
service. 

This arrival put heart in the British and discour- 
aged the Spaniards. The work of the siege was carried 
on with renewed vigor, and on the 13th of August the 
city surrendered, and the news was most welcome 
to the exhausted English, while the American troops 
had been stricken by sickness and were dying at a 
dreadful rate, a single month's exposure having resulted 
in a deplorable condition of the men, many of whom 
were already gone, killed in the trenches or passing 
away in the insufficient hospitals. Of the fate of the 
gallant provincials, we read in Trumbull's "History of 
Connecticut," that "New England, by her zeal in this 
enterprise, sustained a very considerable loss of men. 
Scarcely any of the private soldiers, and but few of the 
officers, ever returned. Such as were not killed in the 
service were generally swept away by the great mor- 
tality which prevailed in the fleet and army." 

Trumbull says of the immense enterprise carried out 
with such hardship, so costly and triumphant and so 
easily squandered with facile imbecility : 



Lord Albemarle was appointed to command the operations by land. 
His lordship had been trained to war from his youth, under the com- 
mand of the Duke of Cumberland. The fleet destined for the service 
was under the command of Admiral Pocock, who had before com- 
manded with such success in the East Indies. The object of the expe- 
dition was the Havana. In this centred the whole trade and navigation 
of the Spanish West Indies. The fleet sailed from Portsmouth on the 



220 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

5th of March. This was to be reinforced by a squadron from Mar- 
tinique, under the command of Sir James Douglass. On the twenty-sev- 
enth of May two fleets formed a junction at Cape Nichola, the northwest 
point of Hispaniola. The fleet consisted of thirty-seven ships of war, 
with nearly an hundred and fifty transports. The land force on board 
was about ten thousand men. Four thousand regular troops from New 
York were ordered to join them at the Havana. A considerable number 
of provincials enlisted under their own officers and served in this ardu- 
ous enterprise. The whole land force, when collected, would amount 
to about fifteen or sixteen thousand men. 

The admiral was not insensible how much the success of the expedi- 
tion depended on despatch, that it might be carried into execution 
before the coming on of the hurricane months. Therefore, instead 
of keeping the common track of the galleons to the north of Cuba 
which was much the safest, though far the most tedious passage, he 
determined to pursue his course from east to west, through the Straits 
of Bahama. This is a narrow passage, about seven hundred miles in 
length. It is bounded on the right and left with so many shoals and 
sands that the navigation is dangerous for single ships. Yet such were 
the cautions and admirable dispositions of the admiral that he carried 
this fleet of nearly two hundred sail safely through this perilous passage. 
On the 5th of June, Havana, the object of this long voyage, and of so 
many anxious hopes and fears, presented itself to the view of the fleet 
and army. On the seventeenth the troops were landed, and for more 
than two months every exertion of courage, every art of war, with the 
most invincible patience and perseverance, under almost insuperable 
difficulties, were unitedly employed by officers and soldiers, by the 
fleet and army, for the reduction of this important island. The fort- 
resses were strong by nature and art. The enemy made a gallant and 
noble defense. The climate was burning, and the want of water great 
and almost insufferably distressing. Never were British valor and reso- 
lution put to a severer trial. Some of the soldiers dropped down dead, 
under the pressure of heat, thirst and fatigue. Before the middle of 
July the army, in this unwholesome and burning region, and under the 
rigor of such extraordinary services, was reduced to half its original 
numbers. Five thousand soldiers and three thousand seainen were ill at 
one time. The hearts of the most sanguine sunk within them while they 
saw this fine army wasting by disease, and they could not but tremble 
for that noble fleet which had so long been exposed along the open 
shore and must, in all human probability, suffer inevitable ruin should 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 221 

the hurricane season come on before the reduction of the place. As the 
season advanced the prospect grew more and more unfavorable. But 
when the troops were on the point of total despondency the arrival of 
troops from North America revived their drooping spirits, gave fresh 
vigor to their operations, and was of the most signal service. 

Such was the zeal of the New Englanders in his majesty's service, 
that not only many of them enlisted with a particular view to the reduc- 
tion of the Havana: but such of them as had assisted in the conquest of 
Martinique, and by reason of sickness had set off in three ships for 
their native country for their recovery, soon finding their health re- 
stored, ordered the ships about, and steering directly for Havana, 
shared in the dangers and honors of that glorious enterprise. 

In Hollister's " History of Connecticut " we read of 
the conduct of Putnam in the shipwreck scene, and the, 
fate of the heroes : 

A terrible storm now arose, and the transport that bore Lieutenant- 
Colonel Putnam, with five hundred men, making one-half of the Con- 
necticut regiment, was driven on a rift of craggy rocks and wrecked. 
Thus separated from the rest of the fleet, so that he could hope for no 
aid from any external source, the surf rolling mountain high, and dash- 
ing against the sides of the ship with such force that she threatened to 
part her timbers at every stroke of the sea, this brave officer, looking 
calmly in the face of death, maintained, above the noise of the waves, a 
discipline that enabled him to issue all his orders wi'-'^" . inter'-uption, 
and secured an obedience to them as perfect as if tne bold-l.v,arted men 
whom he commanded had stood upon the ridges of their own cornfields. 

In this appalling situation every man who could wield a saw or a ham- 
mer was employed in making rafts from spars, planks, and the scanty 
and scattered materials that came to hand. In this way a part of the 
men were landed at the great risk of being drifted far out into the sea. 
After a few of the men had been safely disembarked, ropes were lashed 
to the rafts, and those who had thus gained the shore, aided in pulling 
their companions to the beach. Such was the address and caution ex- 
ercised by Putnam in this most critical of all conditions, that not a man 
was lost. Colonel Putnam now pitched his camp and remained several 
days within twenty-four miles of the enemy at Carthagena. At last the 
storm abated, and the convoy soon after took them aboard and carried 
them to Havana. 



2 22 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The climate proved fatal to a large proportion of our soldiers who 
went upon this expedition. Of the thousand brave men who sailed for 
Havana, and who aided in reducing it, with all its shipping and military 
stores, to the dominion of the British crown, a mere handful ever re- 
turned to lay their bones in their native soil. A few officers, and here 
and there a straggling soldier, wasted to a skeleton, were the sole sur- 
vivors of that fatal campaign, in which victory and death went hand in 
hand. 

This historian HolHster worthily celebrates the re- 
cord of the colony of Connecticut in the memorable 
French and Spanish wars, which lasted eight years, 
when closed by the peace of 1773, saying" that during 
those years : " The sons of the colony had found their 
graves in every part of the continent, and had been 
laid to rest beneath the waters of the West Indian seas. 
No colony, in proportion to her population, had fur- 
nished an equal number of men. Again and again she 
had sent into the field a duplicate supply of troops be- 
yond those demanded of her, to make up for the defic- 
iency that she had but too good reason to think would 
exist in some of those provinces less embued with the 
spirit of liberty and less devoted to the cause of human- 
ity. She had also paid out of her own treasury, after 
deducting the pittance that she had received from par- 
liament, more than four hundred thousand pounds — far 
surpassing, according to her wealth, the amount paid 
by any other of the colonies ; and the exploits of her 
gallant'officers — her Lymans, her Whitings, her Par- 
sons, her Dyers, her Spencers, her Hinmans, her Coits, 
her Fitches, her Durkees, her Woosters, her Putnams, 
and her Wolcotts — were as glorious as their fame will 
be immortal." 

C. C. Hazewell says, in his paper on the "Conquest of 
Cuba," contributed to an early number of the Atlantic 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 22 3 

Magazine : " Of the many conquests which were 
made by the Enghsh in the Seven Years' War, no 
one was more remarkable than that which placed 
Havana and its neighborhood in their hands, virtually 
giving" them possession of the Island of Cuba ; and 
the manner in which they disposed of their mag- 
nificent prize, when George III. forced peace upon 
his unwilling subjects, was among the causes of 
their failure to conquer the Thirteen States in the 
War for Independence." It is related that among the 
laborers of the Eng-lish " were five hundred black 
slaves, purchased, for the use of the expedition, at An- 
tigua and Martinique." This was, of course, a long time 
before the English developed their talent in abolishing 
slavery. The English fleet attempted to support the 
siege of the Moro, but " were roughly received by the 
Spaniards, and lost one hundred and eighty-two men, 
besides being greatly damaged in hull, masts, and rig- 
ging, so that they were forced to abandon the conflict 
without having made any impression on the fortress, 
though they had effected an important diversion in 
favor of the land batteries." The Spaniards made one 
desperate sally, and if they had succeeded, the siege 
would have been abandoned ; but they were beaten 
back with heavy loss, and " in this action a battalion 
of North Americans bore a prominent part, aiding to 
drive the first vSpanish column to the water, where one 
hundred and fifty men were drowned." 

The commander of the Moro, when the castle was 
stormed — an operation which cost the English but two 
officers and thirty men — refused to retreat, and was 
mortally wounded. The Spaniards lost on the spot 530 
men besides the drowned, and the English turned their 



224 ^^-^ STOI^Y OF CUBA. 

batteries upon the city and pounded it with forty-five 
guns. When it was surrendered, besides " Havana 
and its immediate territory, the terms of the surrender 
placed in the hands of the Enghsh as much of the Island 
of Cuba as extended one hundred and eighty miles to 
the west, which belonged to the government of the 
place. This was a great conquest, and it was in the 
power of the conquerors to become masters of the 
whole Island." 

The news of the capture of Havana reached Phila- 
delphia in fourteen days, and was published in the 
Boston G-izette, September 13th, with the concluding 
statement that the spoil amounted to "fourteen million 
milled dollars." 

The victory was celebrated all over New England, 
and throughout the colonies great pride was taken in 
belonging to the conquering nation. Hazewell says of 
the Canadian conquest : " It is certain that those vic- 
tories had greatly exalted the American heart ; and now 
that they were followed by the conquest of Cuba, made 
at the expense of a great nation with which England 
was at peace when Quebec and Montreal had passed 
into her possession, it is not strange that our ancestors 
should have become more impressed than ever with the 
honor of belonging to the British empire. They were 
not only loyal, but they were loyal to a point that 
resembled fanaticism." 

The Boston Gazette states that one of the captured 
Spanish ships had five million dollars on board, that 
almost forty million dollars in specie had already been 
counted, and that the share of Lord Albemarle would 
give him an income of twelve thousand pounds per 
annum, and Admiral Pocock was to have an equal 




ALPHONSE XIII, KING OF SPAIN 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 22/ 

amount ; and this was only an exaggeration. Gov. Ber- 
nard of Massachusetts, at the request of the assembly, 
issued a proclamation for a public thanksgiving on the 
7th of October. After enumerating various causes for 
thankfulness that existed, all of which related to victor- 
ies won in different parts of the world, his excellency 
proceeded to say : " But above all, with hearts full of grat- 
itude and amazement, we must contemplate the glori- 
ous and important conquest of the Havana, which, 
considering the strength of the place, the resolution of 
the defendants and the unhealthiness of the climate, 
seems to have the visible hand of God in it, and to be 
designed by His Providence to punish the pride and 
injustice of that prince who has so unnecessarily made 
himself a party in this war." 

The great British officers took the spoil, giving the 
soldiers and inferior officers but little, and in the division, 
these figures showing the relations of rank to gold as 
well as glory, but not in the sense that Burns wrote : 
" The rank is but the guinea's stamp ; the man's the 
gold," etc. 

Sir George Pocock was placed on the same footing as Lord Albe- 
marle, and Commodore Keppel with Lieutenant-General Elliot ; the 
shares of the two former having amounted to ^122,697 los. 6d. each, 
and of those of each of the two seconds in command ;^24,539 los. id. 
The spoil was in fact equally divided between the two services, having 
amounted altogether to ^736,185 3s., or ^368,092 iis. 6d. each. But 
although the services and chiefs were placed on an equality, the same 
rule could not be observed with the officers and privates. The share of 
a major-general was ^6,816 10s. 6)4(1., that of a brigadier-general, 
^1,947, IIS. 7d.; that of an officer of the staff, ^564 14s. 6d.; that of 
a captain, ^184 4s. 7^d.; that of a subaltern ^116 3s. 54^d.; that of 
a sergeant ^8 i8s. 8d; that of a corporal ;^6 i6s. 6d., and that of a 
private soldier, ^4 is. 8^d. The share of a captain in the navy wag 



228 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

^i,6oo los. lod.; of a lieutenant ^234 13s. 3^d.; of the other com- 
missioned officers, p^iiS 5s. iij^^d.; of warrant officers, ^17 5s. 3d., 
and of ordinary seamen, ;^3 14s. p^d. 

Hazewell says of the bad bargain England made in 
the treaty by which she gave up Cuba : 

She had obtained Florida, which was of no worth to her, and she had 
given up the Havana, which might have been made one of her most use- 
ful acquisitions. That place became the chief American port of the 
great alliance that was formed against England after she had become 
committed to war with the new United States. Great fleets and armies 
were there assembled, which did the English much mischief. Florida 
was reconquered by an expedition from the Havana, and another expe- 
dition was successful in an attack on Nassau; and Jamaica was threat- 
ened. Had England not given up the place to the Spaniards, not only 
would these things have been impossible, but she might have employed 
it with effect in her own military operations, and have maintained her 
ascendency in the West-Indian seas. Or, if she had preferred that 
course, she might have made it the price of Spain's neutrality during the 
American war, returning it to her on condition that she should not assist 
the United States; and as the Family Compact then existed in all its 
force, Spain's influence might have been found sufficiently powerful to 
prevent France from giving that assistance to our fathers which un-' 
doubtedly secured their independence. All subsequent history has been 
deeply colored by the surrender of the Havana in 1763. But for that, 
Washington and his associates might have failed. But for that, the 
French Revolution might have been postponed, as that revolution was 
precipitated through the existence of financial difficulties which were 
largely owing to the part France took in the war that ended in the estab- 
lishment of our nationality. But for that, England might have secured 
and consolidated her American dominion, and the House of Hanover at 
this moment been ruling over the present United States. 

The most thorough account of the conquest of Cuba 
by the Enghsh and Americans is that of Thomas Mante, 
pubhshed in London in 1772^— a chapter of "The His- 
tory of the Late War in America." The historian, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



229 



Mante appreciated the dignity of his subject, and calls 
Havana the key of the riches of Mexico. The army 
was to be composed of 15,000 men, only 4,000 to go 
from England, 8,000 were already in the Indies, and the 
rest were to be supplied from North America. On ar- 
riving at Cuba the British fleet mustered : 



SHIPS OF THE LINE. GUNS. CAPTAINS. 

Namur 90. . . . Harrison. 

Valiant 74- • • -Duncan. 

Culloden 74- • • .Barker. 

Pembroke 60. . . .Wheelock. 

Orford 66. . . . Arbuthnot. 

Temeraire 74- • • -Barton. 

Rippon 60. . . . Jekel. 

Marlborough 68. . . . Burnett. 

Belleisle 64 Knight. 

Dragon 74. . . .Harvey. 

Centuar 74. - - .Lampriere. 

Edgar 60. . . .Drake. 

Alcide 64. . - -Hankerson. 

Devonshire 66. . . .Marshall. 

Defiance 60. . . .M'Kenzie. 

Dublin 74- - • -Gascoigne. 

Cambridge So. . . .Goosetree. 

Hampton-Court 64. . - .Innis. 

Stirling-Castle 64. . . .Campbell. 

Temple 70. . . . Legge. 

Nottingham 60. . . .CoUingwood. 

Intrepid 60. . . .Hale. 



FRIGATES. CAPTAINS. 

Sutherland Everett. 

Thunder 

Lizard Bankes. 

Mercury Goodall 

Glasgow Douglas. 

Grenado 

Trent Lindlay. 

Cerebus Webber. 

Alarm Almes. 

Dover Ogle. 

Richmond Elphinstone. 

Ferrett 

Bonetta 

Basilisk 

Echo Lendrick. 

Lurcher 

Enterprise Holton. 

Porcupine 

Cygnet Napier. 

Peggy 



The following regiments composed the army : 

FROM ENGLAND. 

gth, Whitmore's 977 

34th, Lord Frederic Cavendish 976 

56th, Major-General Keppel '. 933 

72d, Duke of Richmond 986 

Volunteers 217 

Royal Artillery 270 

Brigade of Engineers 6 



4,365 



^- 



230 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

FROM NORTH AMERICA. 

15th, Amherst's 243 

17th, Monckton's 535 

27th, Blakeney's 536 

28th, Townsend's 378 

35th, Otvvay's 471 

40th, Armiger's 380 

42nd, Second Battalion Royal Highlanders . . . .' , 484 

43d , Talbot's 380 

48th, Webb's 525 

60th, Third Battalion Royal Americans 587 

Royal Artillery 107 

Brigade Engineers g 

— 5,382 

From England and North America 9.747 

FROM SOUTH CAROLINA. 

1st Regiment (four companies) 320 

77th, Montgomery's 605 

95th, Burton's 585 

1,510 

FROM DOMINICA. 

22nd , 602 

94th, Vaughan's 387 



FROM GUADALOUPE. 

4th, 225 

65th, Malpass 104 

looth, Campbell's 356 

685 

FROM ANTIGUA. 

38th, Watson's 289 

■ 289 

FROM BELLEISLE. 

69th, Colville's 556 

76th, Two Battalions, Rufane 104S 

90th, Morgan's 465 

98th, Grey's 370 

2,439 

Total 15,659 

Out of the above troops. Lord Albemarle, besides leaving some 
sick at Martinique, garrisoned it with 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 23 I 

The 6gth , 556 

76th 1.048 

And St. Lucia, Dominica, Grenada, and the Grenadillas with the 

38th 289 

94th 387 

98th 370 

looth 356 

4,308 



So that there remained for the Havana expedition but ii.35l 

The whole fleet consisted of : 

Ships of the line 23 

Frigates, bomb-ketches, fire-ships, and their tenders 24 

Transport ships, with troops on board 93 

Artillery ships , 16 

Hospital ships 8 

Provision ships 24 

Ships with fascines 4 

Ships with negroes 2 

Ships with horses 3 

Ships with the baggage of general officers 6 



Total. 



203 



The g-overnor of Jamaica had been ordered to raise 
2,000 " stout negroes " for laborers, and 500 " negroes 
accustomed to arms," but Lord Albemarle feared de- 
lay, and " prudently gave orders, at all events, for the 
purchasing of 800 or 1,000 negroes at Martinique, bt. 
Christopher's, and Antigua." 

The Spaniards got together nearly 30,000 men, and 
their fleet continued at anchor in the harbor. 

The siege of the Moro was one of the severest strug- 
gles in modern warfare — the Spaniards fought in first- 
class style, and gave the British gun for gun. When the 
work was hardest and the fight hottest, there arrived a 
reinforcement, white and black, gratefully received from 
Jamaica ; but we quote the English historian : 



232 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

A much more useful fleet was expected from North America with a 
reinforcement of men and stores ; and accordingly a thousand impatient 
and languishing looks were cast out for it ; but all in vain ; not one ship 
of it yet appeared. Notwithstanding, such was the spirit of the men and 
the ardor of the officers, that twenty guns were mounted by the i6th. 
But in order to account for the rapid erection of these works, we must 
inform the reader that all the artillery, ammunition, and stores, being 
ready on shore, were now carried by a reinforcement of fifteen hundred 
negroes, which had arrived from Jamaica, whose legislature behaved on 
this occasion in a manner that does them infinite honor. Though the or- 
dinary price of labor there was fifteen pence sterling a day, these negroes 
were furnished for the use of government, at the moderate rate of five 
pence sterling. 

The Spaniards made a brave sally for the relief of the 
Moro and failed, and the English had new hopes, and 
these hopes " became more lively by the arrival, on the 
27th of July, of part of the long expected reinforce- 
ment from North America, under Brigadier Burton, 
which had sailed from New York on the nth of June," 
The fall of Havana was on the 13th of August, and 
the Spanish fleet surrendered by the capitulation com- 
prised the following ships of war : 

El Tigre, of 70 guns commanded by the Marquis del 

Real Transporte, Admiral and Commander-in-chief. 

L' America, 60 

■^" Infanta 70 

EI Soverano 70 

La Reyna 7° 

El Aquilon 70 

El Conquestador 60 

El Santo Antonio 60 ) ^^^^ ^^^^j^ launched and fitted out. 

EI Santo Geniare 60 ) 

La Thetis 18)^, , ^, 

- ^, >■ Taken by the Alarm. 

La Vanganza 22J •' 

El Marte 18 Taken at Mariel by the Defiance. 

El Neptune 70 ~| 

El Asia 60 r Sunk in the entrance of the harbor. 

La Europa 60 J 

One of 



On the stocks. 
One of 60 



I 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 233 

And besides, one royal company's ship was taken, one 
sunk, and a third burnt. Mante remarks : 

In the acquisition of the Havana were combined all the advantages 
that could be procured in war. It was a military victory of the first 
magnitude; it was equal to the greatest naval victory by its effects on 
the marine of the Spaniards, who lost on that occasion a whole fleet. 
The vast quantity of tobacco and sugar collected at the Havana on the 
Spanish monarch's account, sold on the spot, exclusive of the ships and 
merchandise sent to, and sold in England, for seven hundred thousand 
pounds, which was divided amongst the conquerors. 

Though a great part of the provisions brought from England had been 
spoiled by the heat of the climate, the most distressing circumstances of 
the campaign was the scarcity of water. Of the vast catalogue of human 
ills, thirst is the most intolerable. On this occasion it soon caused the 
tongue to swell, extend itself without the lips, and become black as in a 
state of mortification; then the whole frame became a prey to the most 
excruciating agonies, till death at length intervened and gave the un- 
happy sufferer relief. In this way hundreds resigned themselves to 
eternity. A greater number fell victims to a putrid fever. From the 
appearance of perfect health, three of four short hours robbed them of 
existence. Many there were who endured a loathsome disease for days, 
nay weeks together, living in a state of putrefaction, their bodies full of 
vermin, and almost eaten away before the spark of life was extinguished. 
The carrion crows of the country kept constantly hovering over the 
graves which rather hid than buried the dead, and frequently scratched 
away the scanty earth, leaving in every mangled corpse a spectacle of 
unspeakable loathsomeness and terror to those who, by being engaged 
in the same enterprise, were exposed to the same fate. Hundreds of 
carcases were seen floating on the ocean. 

The Earl of Albemarle being expressly ordered when the Havana 
service should be over to return the same number of troops to North 
America that he might receive from thence, he embarked the fifth bri- 
gade for that continent; but most of them died in the passage or in the 
hospitals immediately on their arrival; and the artillery sent with them 
was entirely lost at sea. The troops which remained were not much more 
fortunate, being by this time so reduced by sickness that even seven hun- 
dred could not be mustered in a condition to do duty. 



234 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

It was a great victory — an awful sum of wretched- 
ness. Thousands of young men perished, and the 
Island was tossed over to Spain as though it had not 
on it the costly stain of the English and American 
blood — shed there, it seemed, for prize money only. 

The lowest estimate of the plunder of Havana is $14,- 
000,000, but the poor men got a lean share and the great 
chiefs were enriched. Colonel Cleveland, who com- 
manded the artillery, selected the church bells for an 
item of plunder, and the bishop protested to Albemarle, 
who replied that, "when a city was besieged and taken, 
the commander of the artillery receives a gratification, 
and that Colonel Cleveland had made the demand with 
his lordship's concurrence." -> 

The bishop offered to redeem the bells one thousand 
dollars, and the colonel named thirty thousand as his 
price — but Albemarle thought ten thousand would do 
— and the bells were ordered taken down. Then the 
bishop paid the " gratification," and the bells still are 
ringing. Albemarle concluded he wanted more money 
and wrote this polite note to the venerable bishop : 

Most Illustrious Sir: — I am sorry to be under the necessity of 
writing to your lordship what ought to have been thought of some days 
ago, namely, a donation from the church to the commander-in-chief of 
the victorious army. The least that your lordship can offer will be one 
hundred thousand dollars. I wish to live in peace with your lordship 
and with the church, as I have shown in all that has hitherto occured, 
and I hope that your lordship will not give me reason to alter my inten- 
tions. I kiss your lordship's hand. Your humble servant, 

Albemarle. 

As the bishop could not pay, and threatened appeal 
to the courts of England, Albemarle issued a proclama- 
tion declaring " that the conduct of the bishop was se- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 23 5> 

ditious ; that he had forgotten that he was now a sub- 
ject of Great Britain ; and that it was absolutely neces- 
sary he should be expelled from the Island, and sent to 
Florida in one of the British ships of war, in order that 
tranquillity might be maintained, and that good corres- 
pondence and harmony might continue between the 
new and the old subjects of the king, which the conduct 
of the bishop had visibly interrupted." Many remem- 
ber Albemarle in Havana well, and hate him yet. He 
not only had a monstrous appetite for money — he so mis- 
used a church — made a stable of it, the Spaniards say, 
that it was so defiled it has never been reconsecrated. 
It it is a solemn stone affair — with a grim steeple that 
was thought a few years ago to be leaning and danger- 
ous, but it bore itself so stiffly it could not be pulled 
down, and the conclusion was it must be perpendicular ; 
and so it stands and is regarded as a monument of the 
English occupation that should be a reproach to any 
people. 

There is no episode of our colonial history more im- 
pressive as showing the martial and adventurous char- 
acter of the people, and their union with the English in 
national spirit and sympathy, than the important part 
they took, with hearty good will and cheer, in their 
most timely and powerful reinforcement of the Havana 
expedition, that culminated in a glorious feat of arms, 
but terminated in a prize money scandal, and an out- 
break of frightfully fatal disease, and the ridiculous, 
uncalled-for resubmission of the inestimable Island to 
Spain with a long train, not yet ended, of lamentable 
consequences. Unfortunately the records are so imper- 
fect that the story can only be presented in fragments. 

We have much pleasure in recognizing the success of 

C — 14 



236 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the New York Branch of the Society of Colonial Wars 
in collecting and making available the scanty but 
precious material. There are abundant documents 
comparatively of the revolutionary times, but the pres- 
entation of such papers as exist relating to military 
matters for the colonial period, while intelligently at- 
tempted, was rather due to fortunate accidents than to 
systematic effort. 

The report of the Committee on Historical Docu- 
ments of the Society of Colonial Wars on the part the 
colonies took in the expeditions against the Spanish, 
1 740-1 742, published in the Society's Year Book of 
1894, and addressed to the general court of the Society 
of Colonial Wars in the state of New York, is valuable 
for showing the steadiness with which the colonies 
were relied upon to aid the English in establishing 
themselves in the West Indies. The report on histor- 
ical documents opens with the statement that there 
was an effort made to prepare a muster-roll of the col- 
onial troops, but "after a good deal of investigation into 
the public records of the several states of Virginia, 
Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New 
York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, 
and after communicating with a number of officials and 
gentlemen of learning in these states, your committee 
is unable to prepare a complete muster-roll." 

A requisition was made by George II., in the thir- 
teenth year of his reign, upon all the colonies north of 
Carolina, to send four battalions to assist the expedition 
against Cartagena under Admiral Vernon. 

At a general assembly held at Williamsburg, August 
I, 1740, an act was passed directing the treasurer of the 
colony to pay Lieutenant-Governor William Gooch, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 237 

Esq.. five thousand pounds, to be applied towards pro- 
viding victuals, transports, and other necessaries for 
the soldiers raised in the colony for service in the 
Spanish war (5 Hening's "Statutes at Large," page 121). 

"The act recites that his most sacred Majesty (George 
II.), for vindicating the honor of his crown, for secur- 
ing the trade and commerce of his subjects, and for 
revenging the cruelties, depredations and insults com- 
mitted by the subjects of Spain upon those of Great 
Britain, thought it necessary to enter into a war with 
Spain." 

The result was his majesty wanted help and " rec- 
ommended and required of his good subjects" to pro- 
vide certain expenses. The committee report : 

There is little doubt that at least three companies 
were formally enrolled from Virginia, for it appears in 
the Executive Journal under date of August 6, 1740, 
that the followinof were commissioned : 

Captains : 
Lawrence Washington, Charles Walker, Richard Bushrod. 

Lieute7ia7its : 
Francis Moss, Bellony, Lewis Browne. 

Eiislgns : 
William Fitzhugh, Hugh Ross, Young, Pilot 

Under date of May 31, 1740, there is an entry in the 
Executive Journal of an estimate of "three hundred 
and fifty pounds of shipping required to transport men 
that have or shall be raised in this colony for his 
majesty's service." 

It is well known that Lawrence Washington actually 
served in this expedition. The "Magazine of Ameri- 



238 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

can History," Vol. II., page 436, N. Y., 1878, has a let- 
ter from him, written from Jamaica, 1741. 

Lawrence Washington was a brother of George 
Washington, and Mount Vernon, that was inherited 
by George, was named by Lawrence after his old friend 
and companion in arms. Admiral Vernon, who had 
charge of the expedition. 

The destruction by fire of the capitol building at 
Richmond destroyed the rolls, but there are hopes that 
copies may be found in the foreign office, London. 

The only New York muster-roll is this of a company 
raised in New Rochelle : 

Captaifi : 
Anthony Lispenard. 

Lieutenafit : ^ 

Will Le Conte. 

Ensign : 
Joseph Pell. 

Privates : 
Joseph Donaldson, James Cambey, 

Thomas Bolt, Nicholas Vallet, 

Robert Clement, Darius Lunt, 

John Constant, Jr., John James Pilliond, 

William Bridges. 

The prominence of Connecticut in the Havana ex- 
pedition, 1762, has been apparent, and by the courtesy 
of the Historical Committee we have the advantage of 
using the advance sheets of the Society of the Colonial 
Wars' 1895 Year Book, a valuable publication. The 
Journal of a chaplain with the expedition has the fol- 
lowing title page : 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 239 

"Extracts from the . Journal of the Reverend John 
Graham, Chaplain of the First Connecticut Regiment, 
Colonel Lyman, from September 25th to October 19th, 
1762, at the Siege of Havana. Printed by Order of the 
Fourth General Court of the Society of Colonial Wars 
in the State of New York, Office of the Society, 'i^'] 
Liberty Street, New York, 1896." 

Cojumittee on Historical Documents : 

Edward F. DeLancey, Gouverneur M. Smith, M. D., 

William G. Ver Planck, Abraham B. Valentine, 

Charles Isham, Secretary. 

The Journal is introduced with this note: 

This Journal gives, with the fervid and formal religious language of a 
Connecticut Congregational clergyman of the last century, vivid state- 
ments of the sufferings of the British army, regulars and provincials, at 
the siege of Havana in 1762. It also contains valuable statements of 
the numbers of the British regiments, and the names of the provincial 
troops, and the names and strength of the men-of-war engaged in the 
reduction of that strong Spanish city; facts that are difficult to obtain, 
except in large public libraries. 

The Rev. John Graham, who was born in Exeter, New Hampshire, in 
1722, and who graduated from Yale College in 1740, was of the same 
name and profession as his father. The elder Rev. John Graham, 
M.A., received his degree from the University of Glasgow. He emi- 
grated to Boston in 17 18, and married, first, Abigail, a daughter of Dr. 
Chauncey. At the time of the birth of John, junior, he was settled at 
Exeter, but removed later to Stafford, Conn., and was subsequently 
ordained minister over the Church in Woodbury, Conn., where he 
remained forty-two years — until his death. 

The son was, in 1746, minister of the West Parish of Sufifield, then in 
Massachusetts, but since 1752 in Connecticut, and practiced medicine, 
as well as administering the affairs of his congregation. 

In 1 761 he accompanied the expedition against Havana, in the capac- 
ity of chaplain to the provincial forces, under General Phineas Lyman 



240 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

of Connecticut, an intimate friend of the Graham family. The Con- 
necticut Brigade of twenty-three hundred men joined the regular 
troops and other provincials at Staten Island, whence the expedition 
sailed on the i8th of November, 1761. The combined forces, having 
captured Martinique on February 14th, and Havana on August 13th, 
1762, succumbed to an epidemic of fever, by far the deadliest foe they 
had encountered. The Journal of Graham, although fragmentary, gives 
a vivid picture of the sufferings of these victors, and of their anxiety to 
relinquish their conquest. 

The author was not always careful to write himself juinor, hence there 
might be difficulty in identifying him as the chaplain, since his father 
had already served with Lyman in the operations against Crown Point. 
Allusions, however, in the Journal to his children, Love and Narcissus, 
appear to settle this question beyond a doubt. The Rev. John Gra- 
ham, Jr., like his father, was twice married, the girl and boy he men- 
tions being children by his first wife, Mary Sheldon. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution he was an ardent Whig, and so 
continued to the end. He died in 1790. 

Notices of the Grahams may be found in Spagues' " Annals of the 
Pulpit," and in Dexter's " Yale Biographies ; " also in Cothren's " History 
of Ancient Woodbury." 

Many of the manuscripts and letters of the family were in the posses- 
sion or the late John Lorrimer Graham, of Flushing, Long Island. 

The committee are indebted for this Havana Journal to the courtesy 
of the Rev. B. F. De Costa, D.D., of this city. 

New York, Dec. 16, 1895. 



The Rev. John Graham's Journal was in two parts, 
and only the second has been found, but hope of recov- 
ing the first has not been abandoned. That which we 
have and reproduce in full — for it is a broken block of 
honest history and beyond estimation in value — begins 
after the capture of Havana, and says nothing directly 
of the siege, but gives a quaint and vivid picture of the 
plague which confirms the frightful narrative we have 
quoted from the historian, Mante. 




A NARROW STREET AND CATHEDRAI,, HAVANA 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 243 

JOURNAL OF THE REV. JOHN GRAHAM, 

SHOWING HOW THE PROVINCIAL SOLDIERS PERISHED BEFORE HAVANA OF 
A FEVER THAT WAS LIKE THE PLAGUE. 

Saturday, Sept. 25, 1762. — A pleasant morning, nothing extraordi- 
nary liappened the last Night — but Sable night in gloomy Majesty sat 
upon the Camp, a Season, when men used to labour and fatague in ye 
day retire from Labour to recline their weary Limbs, and refresh them- 
selves with rest. . . . But in Camp how wide the difference, the 
Season true, invites to Rest but alas the heavy murmurs that humme 
among the Tents, and bursting groans from throbbing hearts Seized with 
panick, horror and Surprise because febrile flame kindles upon their 
vitals, or Tyrant pain, Tyger like preys upon their Bones or as a harpy 
Devours their entrails, forbids repose — nor Sooner did I deposit my 
weary Limbs in Bed and embrace the delectable pillow, but groan 
echoes to groan, and Sigh rises upon Sigh not unlike the waves and bil- 
lows of a Raging Sea. . . . Thus with our Melancholly Camp a 
fatal desease enters tent after Tent, and with irresistable force strikes 
hands with soldier after Soldier, and with hostile violence Seizes the 
brave, the bold, the hearty and the Strong, no force of arms, no 
Strength of Limbs, no Solemn vows, no piteous moans, no heartrending 
Groans, no vertue in means, no Skill of Physicians can free from the 
Tyrant hand, but death cruel death that stands Just behind, draws the 
Curtain, Shews himseif to the unhappy prisoner, and with peircing 
Sound Cried thou art, and at once throws his fatal dart, and fast binds 
them in Iron Chains — or Some disease in a Milder way Salutes them, 
and more gently treats them, but by Sure and certain Steps flatters them 
along by Slow degrees till they are introduced into the hands of unre- 
lenting death. . . . Others roll from Side to Side, and turn into 
every posture to find ease from pain that wrack their Tortured limbs — ■ 
others that are yet untouch'd with diseases Called from their rest to help 
the distressed; hearken and likly you'l hear them as they pass along, 
return oaths for groans and Curses for Sighs horrible to hear! Thus 
death in Camp reigns and has Tryumphed over Scores already, and dis- 
eases has hundreds fast bound as prisoners — and how few alas how few 
are prisoners of Hope. 

But are Soldiers the only persons attacked or exposed ? Verilly no, 
where are the Capts. the Lt. and Erisign that lately appeared and adorned 
our Camp, now Succepded by others in the Same Command ; are they 



244 ^^-^ STORY OF CUBA. 

not becom victims to Death, and Now held prisoners in the Grave on 
this Barbarous land, their deposited with many of their bold Soldiers till 
the last trumpit shall wake the Sleeping dead. . , . But heark 
mithink I hear a different voice, uttering heavy Groans where is it ? 
Surely its in the next Tent, O the officers of the field, Certainly no 
defference paid to Rank — The 2d in Command in the Regiment is Seized 
with Cold Chills that pass through every part, throws all nature into vio- 
lent agitation and Shakes the whole frame ; a febrile flame Succeeds, this 
alternate, till his vigorous and active limbs becomes feeble, and his ruddy 
Countenance, put on a pale and Languide hue — yet he lives. . . . 
Thus night after night are we accosted with the cries and Groan of the 
Sick and dying. 

Lamentations, Mourning and Woe in all most every Tent ; and what 
hearts so hard ? Who so past all Sensation, thats invested with any 
Degree of humanity, as not to feel a Sympathetic Smart. . . . 

Sabbath Day, Sept. 26, 1762. — This the day by divine appointment 
Sanctified and set apart to divine Use and Service ; that we in the Dic- 
alogue are Commanded to Remember and keep holy. . . , 

No occurances uncommon in Camp this Day — no publick Services. 

Monday, Sept. 27, 1762. — The affairs in Camp are as usual — a Rumor 
prevails, that the Troops are to Embark in a few days. 

An account of the Troops that Served in the Siege of the Havanah : 

Regular Troops. 4 Independt Companies. 

I St, 4th, 8th, 9th, 15 th, 17, 2. Companies Gorham Rangers, 

22, 27, 28, 34, 35, 40. 5th, 42. ist Connecticutt Regment. 

2d, 42, 43, 46, 48, 49, 56, 6. Companies New York. 

58, 60, 65, 72, 73, 77, 90, 2. Do. New Jersey. 

95. 3. Do. Rho Island. 

5300 Negroes from Jamaica, Barbados and the Windward Islands. 

Navy — 17 Ships of the Line, 23 Frigates. 

Tuesday, Sept. 28, 1762. — The last night as well as the preceding day. 
Sultry Hott, had but little rest — my Ears constantly acosted with the 
groans and outcrys of the Sick and distressed : that the Camp is no 
other than a constant Scene of Woe, and misery opened, where the act- 
ors are a Collect Society of the most unhappy and unfortunate, forlornly 
wreched — Cast upon some Barbarous Land, among a Savage kind that 
know no pity, but there tender Mercies are Cruelty — where they are 
Smitten by the Sun by day, and the Sickly moon by night that in ye day 
the drought consume them, and Hurtfull damps by night — nor releaf? 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 245 

can be aforded, there pitying friends that stand around with pained 
hearts, can only tell them necessary Comforts and means are not to be 
had — what a word is this to be Sounded in Ears of those ready to die. 

But turn my thots, and who are these — behold a Number, Straggling 
along the road — awfull, how they look? what appearance do they make ? 
not unlike walking ghost, Just come from the Shades — but viewing more 
narrowly find them to be men. Crawled out of their Tent, wasted with 
Sickness : their flesh all consumed, there bones looking thro the Skin, 
a Mangie and pale Countenance, Eyes almost Sunk into there heads, 
with a dead and downcast look — hands weak, knees feeble, Joints Trem- 
bling — leaning upon Staves like men bowed and over loaded with old 
age, and as they Slowly move along Stagger and Reel, like drunken 
men — pityfull objects. Passing by these, there lyes one fal en down 
thro weakness by the wayside, there another, and another, yea Sundry 
more, in the Same Condition, unable to help themselves — there two or 
three fainted away — others crawling, according to their strength, not 
unlike the Snail in motion, with a little water to reveive them, as the best 
Cordial that can be produced. There sets a Number that walked a few 
rods and there strength is exhausted and are seated on the ground to 
recruit, that they may return to there Tents. Younder goes four of the 
stouter Sort lugging their Capt. that stept a little from his tent, fainted 
away. Back to his Tent again. There goes one, Supported by one under 
each Arm — goes did I say ? rather he is in this manner Carried, for scare 
has he power to Set one foot before the other, nor can his feeble trem- 
bling knees one half support his frame, tho but a Shadow. There 
another and another in like manner convey along from one tent to 
another. Just behind is brot along another in his Blanket strung upon 
two poles — Carried by four. Just by, Six Soldiers take up there Captain 
upon their Shoulders as he lies pale and helpless in his bed, his bedstead 
serves as a Byer, and his Curtains waving in the wind as a pawl, in this 
manner conveyed from his Tent in Camp to a Neighbouring Room, if 
possible to prevent the extinction of the remaining Sparks of Life. 
There is one, two, three Graves open'd, here they come with as many 
Corps, there blankets both there winding sheet and Coffins ; scarce have 
they finished the interment of these, but a messenger comes in hast to 
tell them, they must open a grave or two more, for Such a one is dead, 
and another is dying. 

Some there rage and fury seems to be turn'd against God himself — 
and will knaw their tongues for Anguish and pain, and blaspheme the 
God of heaven, because of their pain and distress, and repent not of their 



246 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

deeds — yea Curse their King and God looking upward — at a little dis- 
tance another lies, not a murmur heard from his Mouth, but seems to be 
thankfuU for everything he Receives, and thinks every favor to be more 
than he deserves ; another a little revived feels Some appitite or food, 
and he complains he shall be Starved to Death — another without 
Compliment lays hold of anything that comes in his way, and with his 
Teeth soon puts a period to life, another groans under a Load of Sick- 
ness, and is ready to Curse the day that he engaged in the Service, Call- 
ing himself fool, madman, and worse than distracted, for coming to this 
place ; but still ran along the Tents, here a Number recruited Somewhat 
— and there Cry is home, home, when shall we go aboard ; when shall we 
go home : O if I was once at home I should Soon be well : O Crys 
one we haven't received our price money : no Says, another and never 
shall ; another makes answere that he dont care nothing about the price 
money if I cou'd but once get away from this Cursed place for we shall 
all die if we don' go Soon — and if I cou'd but once get from henc they 
shall never catch me here again : But whats here ? its one of the Ten- 
ders drunk, anoy'n Swearing at him — thus in different posture under dif- 
ferent Circumstances and of different temper and disposition they are — 
and what a Malancholly, Gloomy and afflictive Scene is this ? How hor- 
rible to behold ? — but retire my thots, and give o'er thy Rove. 

About 5 o'clock waited on Gen' I Lyman at his Room in the Sheperd 
Battery with Capt. Ems inform'd that a Subaltern's part of the price 
money now to be divided, was ;^i26 Sterling. A pleasant moon Shine 
Evening, about 12 at night a Smart Shower of rain. 

Wednesday, Sept. 29, 1762. — Had but little rest. Sleep seem'd entirely 
to depart from my Eyes, and Slumber from my Eye Leds. Filt not so 
Current as usual when I arose — afterwards more Comfortable, but felt 
the want of rest. 

Thursday, Sept. ^o, 1762. — The Commanding officers of every Core, 
dined with his Lordship, who informed that we should Sail in a few days 
and also that in one Spanish Ship Sunk in the harbour, had in her 260,- 
000 dollors — nothing but the distresses of Sick and dying to be heard 
in Camp. This Evening about 10 o'Clock Dr. Hubbard died. 

The Learned Phiscian, endowed with Skill armed with medicine, came 
to be an Listrument to rescue others from the Jaws of death — but baf- 
fled in his Skill, himself attackt, falls a prey to voratious death Nor 
means, nor Skill,. nor Recipies nor forms Could the fine Surgeon Save — 
but yields to death, and's hide within the grave. 

Friday, Oct. t, 1^62. — This day my daughter Love is nine years of 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 247 

age — times still gloomy and melancholly in Camp dying 7, 8 and 9 in 
the Compass of 24 hours Lord let not thine anger consume us. 

Saturday, Oct. 2, 1762. — All the forepart of the day, very hott, and 
Sultry about 3 o'Clock p.m., the heavens Covered with Blackness, indi- 
cated heavy Thunder and rain, the Clouds seem'd to break and scatter 
and but a Sprinkle of rain — then Collected again, and by some distant 
heavy Thunder were broken and scattered again — again Collected, and 
a Soaking heavy rain enSued. last till about Sundown, when it ceased 
raining, but the Clouds not cleared of about ^ before 7 o'Clock the 
rain came on again — a heavy rain till past Eight when it cleared of, and 
the Queen of Night in Silver brightness Shone : the heavens calm, and 
Air Serene and Clear. 

two heavy Showers in the Night — 4 Vessels arrived in the harbour 
from the american Coasts. 

The whole number died out Gen'l. Lymans Regiment Since we Left 
New York, which then Cosisted of 914 — to this day, is 184. 

Viz — 2 Captains. 
I Lieutenant. 
I Ensign. 
I Surgeon's Mate. 
5 Sergeant's. 
I Drummer. 
173 Privates. 



Total, 184 

Sabbath Day, Oct. 3, 1762. — Tho this day is by divine appointment 
is Set apart as holy, and consecrated to holy uses yet in Camp, among 
the Troops, is set aside as common, and not so much as the least visible 
Shew or appearance of anything yet is religious carried on ; but God 
and religion Christ and Salvation are disregarded, contemn'd and dis- 
piced, and we live as tho there was no God, no future Judgment, but as 
if we had given and preserved, life to ourselves, and consequently were 
never to be accountable to any others how we lived, or Spent our 
days. 

I asked Col. Putnam in ye Morning what there was to hinder publick 
Service — he answered, he knew nothing in the world to hinder it — I askt 
him if it was not duty if there was nothing to hinder — Yes, answered he, 
by all means, and I wonder in my Soul why we don't have Service ; and 
add'd we could have prayers night and morning Just as well as not — but 



248 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

then says he, ther'l be but few to attend, theres so many Sick, and so 
many to attend the sick that there cou'd be a Great many, I replied — 
we had this to encourage us, where two or three are met together in my 
Name, Says God, there am I in the midst of them to bless them ; so 
that it was not numbers that entitled to the blessing — thats true Says he, 
I will go down to the General and Speak to him about it, bides good by 
— have heard no more of it Sinse. 

Spent the day in retirement, affairs in Camp as usual. 

Monday, Oct. 4, 1762. — A pleasant morning — a pleasant Breeze all the 
forepart of the Day — went down to the waterside to See Mr. Bancroft, 
but he was gone, and returned fatagued — in the afterpart of the day vis- 
ited part of the hospital Tents. 

Tuesday, Oct. 5, 1762. — Had comfortable rest last night, and much 
refreshed this morning — Some unpleasant Salutations — visited the offi- 
cers Sick in Camp, and the Soldiers in Some part of the Hospital Tents; 
and what sad Specticles are they, many of them ; a Bony Frame cov- 
ered with a little Skin, mere skellitans. 

Wedne^ay, Oct. 6, 1762. — Nothing more than Common Unless, that 
the men dont fall Sick anything so fast — nor do the Sick die so fast — 
and more comfortable prospect of the Recovery of many that have been 
brought low — visited Gen'l. Lyman, and all the officers sick in Camp — 
the rest of the day Spent in Reading. 

Thursday, Oct. 7, 1762. — This Morning Col. Putnam and Lt. Park 
went of into ye Country to buy fresh provisions. Such as poultry, etc. — 
in the afterpart of ye day visited part of the hospital Tents. 

Friday, Oct. 8, 1762. — A pleasant Morning — the day thro a Comfort- 
able Breeze — the forepart of the day visited all the officers sick in Camp 
two Ships of war came into the Harbour and one Cat Ship. 

Nothing extraordinary in Camp happened this day. 

Saturday, Oct. 9, 1762. — Much labour of mind to waste away the 
time with most, impatient for the arrival of that day and hour when they 
shall embark for Home, and Crossing the foaming Seas, shall reach 
their native Shores, and with wraptured hearts o'er come with Joy, 
Salute, embrace, and fall into the Arms, of their long wished for, wish- 
ing, lovely, loving friends. 

The No. of dead out of Gen'l. Lymans Regment, 207. Nothing re- 
markable in Camp. 

Sabbath Day, Oct. 10, 1762. — This Day has been observed as Usual 
in Camp, a total neglect of all religious Services, as to any visible ap- 
pearances in General. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 249 

Orders from Head Quarters. That the provincials hold themselves 
in readiness to embark about the 20th of this instant. 

Long looked for, long expected, much desired to know the fixed 
time. 

Monday, Oct. 11, 1762. — This morning 3 Ships of the Line fell down 
out of the Harbor, under the Command of Commodore Kipple, who Sa- 
luted Admiral Pocock with 17 Cannon, the Admiral return'd 15 — one of 
the 3, a 70 Gun Ship, unhappily went foul of one of ye Sunk Ships in 
the mouth of the Harbour, and Stuck fast till 3 o'Clock p.m. when She 
cleared the Ship — Tis said that the Ships are design for Jamacai. 

A.M., Visited all the sick officers in the Regiment that are in Camp, 
then visited Gen'l, Lyman, p.m. visited a considerable part of the 
hospital Tents — at my return found Col. Putnam and Lt. Parks returned 
from the Country, Lt. Parks Sick — at Evening had the Joyfull news of 
the prosperous Season in New England and the Smiles of divine provi- 
dence upon the labours of the field : that they have plentifull Crops, the 
News bro't in by a vessel last from New London — that arrived this af- 
ternoon in the harbour. 

Tuesday, Oct. 12, 1762. — A heavy rain towards morning — a pleasant 
morning and fine Air. 

A. m. visited officers in Camp. Sick — all seem to be upon the recruit. 
This morning 3 Ships of the Line more fell down out of the Harbour, 
to Join Commodore Kepple, who are to Cruize along to the Northward 
if possible to come across a french fleet that is reported to be out — and 
then go to Jamaica. Two frigates Joind them that lay at the mouth of 
the Harbour. Towards night, the heavens were cover'd with blackness, 
and a heavy rain came on. Severe lightning and heavy Thunder, held 
till 8 o'clock the heavyest rain we have ever known upon the 
Land. 

Wednesday, Oct. 13, 1762. — This Morning another Ship of the line 
went out to Join the above mentioned Ships upon their Cruize — a little 
before 4 o'Clock p.m. the rain came on again — continued till late in the 
Night. 

Thursday, Oct. 14, 1762. — About 2 o'Clock this morning Ephraim 
Parks, one of our Family died, a rainy night this morning fair and pleas- 
ant — in the afternoon very strong wind — at night heavy rain. 

Friday, Oct. 15, 1762. — A very heavy Rain all the latter part of the 
night and in the morning, little after sun rise Clear'd of — a pleasant 
fore noon — this day my youngst Son Narcissus is a year old. a.m. vis- 
ited the sick officers in Camp. p.m. Orders from head quarters. 6 Trans- 



250 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

ports appointed for the Connecticutt Troops to Carry them to N. York, 
who are order' d to imbark Next Tuesday — good news to the 
Troops. 

Saturday, Oct. 16, 1762. — A pleasant and comfortable Morning for 
this Country that has proved so fatal to so many of our Troops. Vis- 
ited the offices sick in Camp — this day a distrabution of the troops 
among the transports and, am order'd aboard the Royal Duke, a large 
Transport Ship of about 500 tuns. 

Sabbath Day, Oct 17, 1762. — All in a hurry making preparations for 
the Embercation and laying Stores for the Voige to New York — tho' the 
day is the Lord's by a special appropriation, yet nothing of religious ser- 
vice observed, or anything besides the present important affair of pro- 
viding each one for himself without an relation to another, and as tho' 
there was no being to be dependant upon but each upon himself. 

Visited the sick officers in Camp — by Yesterday return, died the last 

Week , 19 

Dead before 207 

In Gen'l. Lyman Regd. Total 226 

Monday, Oct. 18, 1762. — The Camp all in a Tumult, in a hurry em- 
barking the Sick and laying stores for voyage one running one way an- 
other hastning another in a hurry doing but little — about 4 o'Clock p.m. 
embarked on board the Royal Duke, a fine large ship and noble Conve- 
niences for Officers and Soldiers — the main body of the Connecticutt 
Troops embarque'd this Day on board the transports appointed for 
them. 

Tuesday, Oct. 19. — This day Gen'l. Lyman Reed of the Pay Master 
Gen'l. the prize money for Connecticutt Troops — and pay'd to the sev- 
eral Capts. of our Regm't a propotion for themselves and Soldiers. Still 
lye in harbour. 

Wedndsday, Oct. 20, 1762. — Weigh'd anchor and fell down to the 
mouth of the harbour, a.m. went on board the Resolution and Rec'd 
the adjutant. 100 Dollars and 150 in Bitts. 

Thursday, Oct. 21, 1762. — Just at night going out of the harbour 
narrowly escaped running on the Rocks — the Ship struck once, but a 
wind Sprung up and carried us Clear — stood of to sea all night. 

Fryday, Oct. 22, 1762. — Return'd Back to find the fleet. Join'd the 
fleet toward night, when the Capts. of Transports Rec'd there orders 
from the Commadore. Was very ill all day. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 25 1 

Saturday, Oct. 23, 1762. — More comfortable this Morning, contin- 
ued on Course towards the rnetazes. 

Sabbath Day, Oct. 24. — Had a very ill day unable to move, thick 
broke out' all over— a pleasant day. 

Monday, Oct. 25, 1762. — the last night towards the latter part strong 
gust of wind — Continued all day — more comfortable to day but not able 
to sett up much. 

Taken out of the money Reed of Dollars 3. Bitts 5. 

John Graham. 

10 March, 1763. 

The leader of the provincial troops in the Havana ex- 
pedition was General Phineas Lyman, of whom we 
have this brief and mournful account in Appleton's En- 
cyclopaedia : 



Lyman, Phineas, soldier, born in Durham, Conn., in 17 16 ; died near 
Natchez, Miss., 10 Sept., 1774. He was bred to the trade of a weaver, 
but subsequently prepared for college, and was graduated from Yale in 

1738 

In 1 761 he was ordered to Canada, and in 1762 he was sent with 2,300 
men to assist in the capture of Havana, and subsequently placed in com- 
mand of the entire provincial force during that unlucky expedition. At 
its close he was deputed by the surviving officers and soldiers to proceed 
to England and receive the part of the prize money that remained due. 
A company of " Military Adventurers " had also been formed by his 
exertions, chiefly fcomposed of those who had served in the late wars, 
whose object it was to obtain from the British government a tract of 
land on the Mississippi and Yazoo rivers. Soon after his arrival in 
England, in 1763, a change of ministry took place, and so many ob- 
stacles appeared in the way of accomplishing his design that he re- 
mained abroad until 1772, unwilling to return home and admit failure. 
He was at last taken back by his son, the wreck of his former self, but 
not until he had obtained permission from the crown to settle on a tract 
of land twenty miles square, east of the Mississippi and south of the 
Yazoo. The " Military Adventurers " having been reorganized, Gen. 
Lyman began in December, 1773, with a few companions, to make a 
preliminary survey- The party settled near Matches, but Lyman soon 
died. 



2 52 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

As two of the British lords divided more than a 
milhon dollars, it was not unnatural on the part of 
the provincial officers to think there was something 
coming to them; but the wild land in the Yazoo coun- 
try was in those times a sorry substitute for the Span* 
ish silver and gold that was carried to England. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 253 



CHAPTER XV. 

EARLY INCIDENTS OF THE PRESENT WAR. 

The Ibarra Band the First Organized — Coloma and His Fiance, Being 
Captured, are Married in Moro Castle— Efforts Made for Peace, 
but the Disturbance Spread Rapidly — General Campos, President 
Marti, Gomez, and Maceo Land in Cuba — Marti's Death — The 
Cause of Guerilla Warfare. 

On the 24th of February, 1895, ^^ citizens of Havana 
were greatly surprised to learn that public order had 
been disturbed in two different sections of the country. 
Captain-General Calleja had received an official com- 
munication from the civil governor of the province of 
Matanzas, stating that an insurgent band had made its 
appearance in Ibarra, while the civil governor of San- 
tiago de Cuba had telegraphed him to the effect that 
mobs were causing trouble both in Baires and in Jigu- 
ani. Further information gathered was not reassuring 
to Calleja, and by his proclamation of the 28th of Feb- 
ruary, " martial law " was put in force in the two prov- 
inces named. According to Art. 3 of said proclama- 
tion, no penalty whatever should be imposed on any 
rebels who would surrender in eight days. 

That Ibarra band, the first one in the present war, 
numbered about thirty men, one of them being Juan 
Gualberto Gomez, colored, the well-known editor of 
the popular Havana daily. La Ltic/ia. The chief of 
the party, however, was Antonio Lopez Coloma, a 

young man who was in charge of the Ignacia plantation 

c— 15 



2 54 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

and had organized the band. On his leaving for the 
neighboring fields, another young man, Armando Gon- 
zalez, tried to detain him by force; but Coloma killed 
him on the spot. Four days afterwards the party were 
encamped in the woods near the Ignacia sugar mill; 
when a few cavalrymen and a small guerilla band made 
a sudden attack upon the rebels ; some of them suc- 
ceeded in escaping, Gomez among them; but others 
were made prisoners. 

A romantic incident is deserving of mention here. 
Lopez Coloma and Senorita Amparo Orbe had been en- 
gaged for some time, and when he determined to take 
to the field, she ran away from home to follow him and 
share his fate. So it happened that she was a pris- 
oner with her lover in the San Severino Castle of Ma- 
tanzas ; but was released a few days later, while Coloma 
had to remain in the fortress. He was subsequently 
taken to the Moro Castle of Havana, and the young 
woman having moved to the capital, their marriage took 
place in that prison. 

Editor Gomez had escaped unhurt ; but after having 
ascertained what had happened to Lopez Coloma and 
most of his companions, decided to surrender to the 
authorities, which he did, as did likewise the rest of 
the members of the Ibarra band, who were scattered 
about the country. He was brought before General 
Calleja, in Havana, who pardoned him at once, in 
accordance with said Article 3 of his proclamation ; but 
while Gomez was still in the governor's palace, the 
chief-of-police arrived there with an order from the 
court to arrest him on a charge that he was implicated 
with two Spaniards, Agapito Anitua and Eladio Lar- 
ranaga, in the introduction of a lot of firearms and car- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 255 

tridges, of military pattern. The Cuban and the two 
Spaniards were tried and found guilty. Gomez and 
Anitua were given twenty year sentences, and Lar- 
ranaga twelve of hard labor in Ceuta, the Spanish fort- 
ress on the African coast, opposite Gibraltar. 

Soon after the dispersion of the Coloma band, it 
became evident that the spirit of rebellion had already 
spread through several districts, where secret prepara- 
tions had been made, as the result of long and careful 
plotting at home and abroad. Dr. Martin Marrero 
gathered about fifty men under the Cuban flag at 
Jaguey Grande, and Joaquin Pedroso, a young gentle- 
man of Havana, organized another small party at 
Aguada de Pasojeros; but these two bands were only a 
few days in the field. Troops were sent against them 
and a general dispersion followed. Most of the men 
surrendered, but Dr. Marrero was allowed to leave for 
Spain, together with two friends of Pedroso. Before 
surrendering, some of Marrero's men took refuge in the 
" Cienaga de Zapata," where they met an unexpected 
and terrible foe. They had to fight regular battles to 
protect themselves against swarms of furious alligators, 
the most aggressive inhabitants of that vast marsh-land. 
There was trouble of a different kind in Pedroso's party; 
this gentleman commanded his own band only until it 
received a reinforcement consisting of a number of 
highwaymen, under Matagas, who at once instituted 
himself as supreme chief, notwithstanding all proper 
protestations. Matagas, like Manuel Garcia, Pregino 
Alfonso, and some others not so well known, had been 
plundering the country for many years previous to the 
outbreak of the present revolution. Manuel Garcia, 
generally called " El Rey de los Campos de Cuba " 



256 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

(the king of the Cuban fields), was killed in an 
encounter with the troops at the same time the above 
events were taking place. 

In the meantime, Julio Sanguilly, Jose Maria Aguirre 
and Ramon Perez Trujillo had been arrested. Sanguilly, 
a major-general, and Aguirre, a colonel of the Cubans 
in the last war, claimed American citizenship ; Perez 
belonged to the Central Junta of the Autonomist party 
in Havana. Nothing could be proven against Aguirre 
or Perez, and they were released after due investiga- 
tion before a civil court ; but Sanguilly was convicted, 
and sentenced to prison for life. 

The dispersion of the bands at Jaguey and Aguada 
led to the belief that peace would prevail in the prov- 
inces of Matanzas and Las Villas. Not so in that of 
Santiago de Cuba, where a tremendous plot was dis- 
covered. The conspirators had planned to set fire to 
the whole of Santiago and start a general massacre, 
the first intended victim being Governor Enrique Cap- 
riles, who, receiving warning, lost no time in preventing 
any possible disturbance in his capital. Numerous bands 
began, also, to appear in other districts under " Guiller- 
mon, Quintin, Bandera, Periquito, Perez, Garzon Goulet, 
Herrezuelo, Enrique Brooks, the brothers Sartorius, the 
journalist, Jose Miro, Guerra, Feria, Marrero, Bojas, 
Lora, the brothers Rabi, the Estradas, Reitor and Tam- 
ayo." Many of these chiefs had served the Cuban 
cause during the last war, especially Bartolome Masso, 
a very influential man in the Manzanillo district. 

The mobs at Baires and Jiguani were unimportant, 
except as a premonition of future events ; but now, the 
general uprising in the Santiago province and the pres- 
ence of Masso in the field, and the information obtained 





T. ESTRADA PALMA, 
Minister to U. S. 



BENJAMIN J. GUERRA, 
Treasurer. 





GONZALO DE QUESADA, 
Secretary. 



HORATIO S. RUBENS, 
Counsel. 



THE CUBAN JUNTA. 



(257) 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 259 

in regard to the work of revolutionists abroad, made 
the governor, the poHtical parties, and the population 
of the Island at large understand that the situation was 
really a very serious one. The Cuban Autonomists or 
home-rulers had already begun to use their influence 
to prevent the spread of the revolution, and General 
Calleja authorized Leyva, one of the leading members 
of their Central Junta, to confer with Masso to try to 
persuade him to give up his plans, with the assurance 
that no penalty was to be inflicted on those insurgents 
who would lay down their arms and return to their 
homes in peace, and that all facilities were to be given 
those preferring to leave the country. 

Leyva left for Manzanillo, and soon after his arrival 
there he completed all arrangements to meet Masso, 
who was at "La Odiosa." He thought it a good 
plan to be accompanied by some influential men be- 
longing to the various political groups in Cuba, and 
the following gentlemen consented to help him in his 
mission : Manuel Romagosa and Jose Ramirez, Auto- 
nomists (Cubans) ; Virgilio Lopez Chavez, a distin- 
guished officer in the Spanish navy (Cuban) ; Manuel 
Muniz Fernandez, Conservative, a banker (Spaniard), 
and Marcelino Vazquez Liora, a merchant (Spaniard). 
This committee did their best to impress Masso with 
the disastrous consequencs of another civil war, and 
some remarks touched him deeply ; but the only prac- 
tical result of the conference was Masso's proposition 
that the military authorities allow ten days for him to 
consult other Cuban chiefs and give a definite answer. 
The commissioners returned to Manzanillo, and Leyva 
proceeded to Santiago to see General Lachambre, the 
military comrnander of that province. Lachambre flatly 



26o THE STORY OF CUBA. 

refused to allow further delay for the submission of the 
rebels, and ordered his troops to attack them immedi- 
ately. 

Other efforts were made in favor of peace. On the 
day following Leyva's departure from " La Odiosa," 
Masso received there his old friend, Juan Baptista Spot- 
torno, a man of such prominence in the revolutionary 
party that he was president of the Cuban organization 
for some time during the last war, and a committee 
of five ex-rebel chiefs left Manzanillo for Havana, to ask 
the captain-general to stop hostilities. It was all useless. 
Masso would not surrender without delay, and Calleja 
would not countermand Lachambre's orders. Further 
endeavors on the part of Leyva, embodied in a remark- 
able letter of protest to Masso, and later on, the action 
of the Central Junta of the Cuban Home Rule party in 
publishing an important " Appeal to the People of 
Cuba," could not prevent the dreaded conflagration. 

By this time, the situation in the eastern province 
was a rather peculiar one from a military standpoint. 
The rebel force mustered about i,6oo men, divided in 
twelve bands — the largest not 250 strong — scattered in 
several districts of that thinly populated section of 
Cuba. The government troops were also few in num- 
ber and serving mainly in the seaport garrisons, 
for the whole army was less than 14,000. General 
Lachambre was at once reinforced by a column under 
Colonel Santocildes. Nearly all the rebel bands were 
composed of cavalrymen, as horses were plentiful in 
the country, and the Cubans are excellent riders ; but 
they were very badly armed, having only their ma- 
chetes, and a few old guns. For this reason their 
operations consisted chiefly in trying to overcome small 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 26 1 

garrisons of regulars or volunteers, to obtain their arms 
or ammunition. The first occurrence of this kind was 
dramatically interesting. 

Veguitas, a small town on the road between Manza- 
nillo and Bayamo, was ungarrisoned, and the arms be- 
longing to the company of local volunteers had been 
gathered in a certain house. Esteban Tamayo knew 
this, entered the town with his fifty followers, went di- 
rectly to the residence of Cayetano de la Maza, the cap- 
tain of said volunteers, and ordered him to deliver the 
arms of the company. Maza made no resistance, and 
Tamayo's men were soon provided with guns and car- 
tridges, only to discover at once that they had been ren- 
dered useless. The disappointment filled the whole 
band with rage ; the captain was prefunctorily court- 
martialed and sentenced to be shot then and there, and 
the customary number of men proceeded to execute the 
terrible sentence. At that critical moment a young 
woman sprang between the victim and the muzzles of 
the rifles, and facing them, cried to the rebels : " He 
will not die before you have killed a Cuban woman." 
She was Sefiorita-Maria de la Maza, the captain's niece, 
whose marvelous act of devotion and bravery paralyzed 
the executioners and caused intense astonishment to the 
whole party. The sentence was reconsidered, resulting 
in a grant of pardon, and the band left Veguitas. 

Several small columns of regulars and local gueril- 
las went out to the country in pursuit of the rebel par- 
ties, the latter taking to the inaccessible woods when 
they could not fight to advantage, and falling upon 
badly protected villages to get guns and cartridges, in 
which they were sometimes successful, after more or 
less skirmishing and loss of men on both sides. In tliis 



262 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

way the military operations of the present revolution 
were started, and the hide-and-seek methods have pre- 
vailed ever since. It is a fact that no better plan of 
campaigning could be adopted in Cuba to make an 
armed conflict last indefinitely, for the topographical 
and climatic conditions of the country demand guerilla 
warfare. The mountains are covered with the thickest 
woods imaginable, while the dry plains are a mass of 
manigua (very high bushes and grasses), and the rest 
of the territory is quite marshy. Only the cultivated 
lands, after harvesting, could afford a place for regular 
battles. Whether the contending armies be large or 
small, nothing but guerilla warfare is possible in Cuba, 
and large battles being out of the question, any of the 
parties can, at will, make the conflict one of long dura- 
tion. This will explain why 50,000 or more men of 
the revolutionary army, and over 130,000 Spanish regu- 
lars, actually on the field, have engaged in military 
operations for one year, and no decisive encounter has 
been reported yet. Hardly a day has passed without 
the occurrence of some fighting, but nearly every en- 
counter was merely a skirmish with more or less combat- 
ants in it, giving occasion to many examples of individ- 
ual bravery, but affording very few opportunities to 
register brilliant victories on either side. Some of them 
will be mentioned here as characteristic specimens of Cu- 
ban warfare, in which all dangers and discomforts are 
multiplied, while martial glory is generally at a discount. 
But other events must be reviewed in succession. 
The Cuban Junta in New York had not been idle, and 
it soon began to organize expeditions of men, arms, and 
accoutrements which were gladly received by their 
friends in Cuba, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 263 

Antonio Maceo and his brother Jose, with Flor Crom- 
bet, Cebreco, and other comrades, a score in all, had 
left Costa Rico and succeeded, not without some diffi- 
culty, in landing near Baracoa, on the 31st of March. 
On their way to the interior, Flor Crombet was killed, 
and some were made prisoners by detachments of reg- 
ulars, but the Maceos and Cebreco finally joined the 
band of Periquito Perez, about Guantanamo, and then 
Antonio Maceo took command of the revolutionary 
army in the Oriental province. 

Jose Marti and Maximo Gomez also set foot on Cuban 
land at Cabonico (Baracoa district) on the 14th of 
April, and after hiding in a cave for two days, they 
marched inland, and met the party under Felix Buen, 
who received them with military honors, and recog- 
nized Gomez as general-in-chief of the Cuban army. 
The influx of help and the presence of the principal 
leaders caused the revolt to spread more and more every 
day, and the men in arms soon numbered over 6,000. 

Spain had reinforced her colonial army with a num- 
ber of battalions when the Sagasta Cabinet resigned, 
and the Conservative party took charge of the govern- 
ernment. Premier Canovas then had Martinez Campos 
appointed governor-general of Cuba, who left at once 
for his destination with another reinforcement of 25,000 
men. He landed at Guantanamo on the i6th of April, 
and also visited Santiago and other ports, as he wished 
to give preliminary orders, before reaching Havana. 
His elaborate instructions referred to every department 
of military service, especially to the proper diet and 
medical attendance of his soldiers, to the treatment of 
prisoners of war, and to the protection of non-com- 
batants. 



264 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The revolt was centred in the Santiago Province. The 
daily increases of both armies added importance to the 
struggle, without altering, however, its characteristics. 
Detachments of small columns of Spanish foot-men and 
groups of mounted rebels were moving continually 
about the country, and hunting for one another. There 
were marches and countermarches, ambushes and sur- 
prises, with occasional hard fighting at close quarters. 
The following is an example : 

THE DEATH OF THE CUBAN LEADER, MARTI. 

Marti landed with Maximo Gomez on the southern 
part of the Baracoa district, and from the moment he 
arrived his purpose was to extend the war to Puerto 
Principe, availing himself of the military experience of 
his companion, the Dominican chief, who, in the last 
campaign, had made El Camaguey the scene of his 
operations. They both were near Ventas de Casa- 
nova, and, as it has been ascertained, after organizing 
an expedition that was to march to Puerto Principe 
under Gomez's command, Marti intending to go to 
the seacoast in order to return abroad and continue 
his work there in favor of the secessionist revolution. 
It was then that a column, commanded by Colonel 
Jimenez de Sandoval, left Palma Soriano for Reman- 
ganaguas and afterwards proceeded from the latter 
place to Ventas de Casanova. The column then 
marched towards the Contramaetre river, and on the 
road arrested a man, Chacon by name, on whom were 
found letters from the rebels and some money with 
which he was going to make purchases by order of the 
insurgent chiefs. Chacon gave some information rela- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 26 S 

tive to the enemy's location, and accordingly Colonel 
Jimanez de Sandoval, on the 19th of May, gave the 
order to march, and arrived at La Brija. The Hernan 
Cortes squadron, under Captain Oswaldo Capa, was in 
vanguard, and attacked a band commanded by Bellito, 
which had come to meet the column. 

When Colonel Sandoval heard of it he advanced up 
to the plain of Dos Rios, and ordered his infantry to 
open fire. A spirited combat ensued with fatal results 
to the insurgents, as while the Spanish guide, Antonio 
Oliva, ran to help a soldier who was surrounded by a 
large group of the enemy, the guide fired his rifle at a 
horseman who fell to the ground, and was found to be 
Jose Marti. Captain Enrique Satue was the first to rec- 
ognize him. A fight took place on the spot, the rebels 
trying hard to carry the corpse away. 1 here was also 
another very important incident. Maximo Gomez was 
wounded, which for some days led to the belief that 
he was dead. According to one narrative, Gomez 
was on the scene of the above events from the 
beginning of the combat, and while hurrying to re- 
cover personally the corpse of Marti, he was wounded, 
although not seriously. Others say that the famous 
chief had already taken leave of Marti to go to Cam- 
aguey, when, passing at some distance from Dos Rios, 
he heard the report of musketry ; he imagined what 
was happening, and ran to rescue the civil chief of the 
revolution ; but when he arrived Marti had been killed. 
Gomez being wounded, Borrero placed him on his own 
horse, and in this manner took him away in safety. 
The Spaniards, after their victory, moved to Reman- 
ganaguas, where the corpse of Marti was embalmed. 
From the latter town it was taken to Santiago de 



266 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Cuba, and while on the way there the troops had to 
repel an attack from the rebels, who intended to carry 
off the coffin. On arrival at the Oriental capitol the 
remains of Marti were exhibited in the cemetery, and, 
in spite of the effects of rapid decomposition, which 
had set in, many people recognized the features of the 
secessionist agitator, as stated in an official attestation. 
Colonel Sandoval presided over the funeral ceremonies, 
and General Salcedo caused the dead man to be given a 
decent resting-place. Here are Sandoval's words on 
the occasion : 

Gentlemen: — In presence of the corpse of him who in life was Jose 
Marti, and in the absence of any relative or friend who might speak over 
his remains such words as are customary, I request you not to consider 
these remains to be those of an enemy any more, but simply those of a 
man, carried by political discords to face Spanish soldiers. From the 
moment the spirits have freed themselves of matter they are sheltered 
and magnanimously pardoned by the Almighty, and the abandoned mat- 
ter is left in our care, for us to dispel all rancorous feelings, and give the 
corpse such Christian burial as is due to the dead. 

The province of Puerto Principe was still in peace. 
Only one insurgent band had been raised, and this was 
soon defeated under the leadership of Pachin Varona, 
On the 1 2th of April, he went to San Miguel de 
Nuevitas, a village whose only garrison consisted of a 
few men of the civil guard, commanded by Sergeant 
Martinez. Varona's force attacked them in their quar- 
ters, and the besieged made a good defense, until other 
troops came to their rescue, and dispersed the band, after 
several of its members had been killed. During the de- 
fense there was an unusual incident. The Cubans at- 
tacked the private house of Sergeant Martinez, whose son, 
a boy eleven years old, took a rifle and killed the first man 




PS 



w » 

O JS 



O ^ 



a; ji 
o 5 

M '3 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 26g 

who tried to force an entrance. The father hurried to 
the house, and arrived just in time to shoot at a negro 
who was entering, machete in hand ; but he missed his 
mark, and the negro brandished his weapon to kill 
his opponent, when Martinez's wife disabled the in- 
truder by means of a terrible blow with another 
machete. 

Maximo Gomez had made up his mind to invade the 
territory of Puerto Principe, generally known as "El 
Camaguey," and, notwithstanding the efforts of the 
Spanish generals to prevent it, he crossed the boundary 
line early in June. On the 5th of that month, the old 
Marquis de Santa Lucia, an ex-Cuban president, left the 
city of Puerto Principe and took the field, in company 
with a number of friends, while Maceo, leading a few 
thousands of his Orientals, also entered that province, to 
aid in its general uprising. Many citizens joined the 
invading army, or the new bands that were appearing 
every day. Regiments of regulars hurried to Cama- 
guey, and operations were actively conducted, as in 
Santiago province, notwithstanding the effect of the 
rainy season, which had already set in. 

Gomez proceeded immediately to put his general 
plan into execution. He ordered all Cuban bands. 
First, to attack small Spanish posts and get their arms, 
if possible, freeing every man who would deliver them ; 
Second, to cut all railway and telegraph lines ; Third, 
to keep on the defensive, and retreat in groups, unless 
his men could fight the enemy at great advantage ; 
Fourth, to destroy Spanish forts or other buildings from 
which the foe had made any resistance ; Fifth, to de- 
stroy all sugar-cane crops or mills, whose owners would 
refuse to contribute to the Cuban war fund ; Sixth, to 



2/0 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

forbid the farmers to send any food to the cities with- 
out paying certain taxes. 

On his part, Martinez Campos ordered : First, several 
regiments, divided into detachments, to protect the 
sugar estates ; Second, other detachments placed along 
the railroads, and on every train in motion ; Third, an 
attack always, unless the enemy's force be above three 
times the number of the troops ; Fourth, that all rebels 
who surrender, except those having the rank of officers, 
be allowed to go free and unmolested ; Fifth, convoys 
of victuals sent to the towns that needed them. 

Operations were continued week after week, more 
important now in Camaguey than in Santiago, for the 
evident wish of the insurgents was to move and spread 
the insurrection toward the western part of the Island. 
Among the innumerable encounters which took place 
during these several months, there is one, July 12th, 
near Bayamo, of such celebrity that it is treated separ- 
ately, as a remarkable episode of arms, though indeci- 
sive, like all the combats in Cuba. 

About the 24th of August, the insurgent general, 
Carlos Roloff, and a party of old Cuban officers, landed 
near Tunas de Zaza. They had left Key West, Florida. 
The revolt had spread to the Santa Clara province, also 
called Las Villas, whose inhabitants were witnesses to 
scenes similar to those with w^hich every one has become 
familiar in Santiago and Puerto Principe, but the 
attack of trains and destruction of property became, 
more frequent and telling, and the provinces of Mat- 
anzas, Havana, and Pinar del Rio began at last to be 
involved in and suffer from the disastrous struggle. 

Many fights, but no military event of particular impor- 
tance, took place during the months of September and 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 2/1 

October. Maximo Gomez was making preparations for 
the invasion of the western provinces. 

The revolutionary government had been elected by 
an assembly, composed of representatives sent by all 
the bands that were in arms. That body deliberated 
for three days, and elected the Marquis de Santa Lucia 
for president, and Bartolome Masso for vice-president. 
Maximo Gomez was confirmed in his office of general- 
in-chief of the liberating army, and Antonio Maceo as 
general-in-chief of the invading army. 

C— 16 



2/2 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

BATTLE OF BAYAMO AND RESULTS. 

Campos' First Sharp Check — Spaniards Much Shaken— Severe and In- 
teresting Battle — General Santocildes Sacrifices his Life to Save 
that of Campos — Maceo does not Permit his Sharpshooters to Pick 
off Campos — Maceo's Humanity to the Wounded. 

Far the most severe battle of the first campaign of the 
present war was that in which Martinez Campos and 
the rebel chiefs were pitted against each other, in July 
last, near Bayamo — a conflict in which was announced 
to the hard-pressed captain-general of Spain, and all 
observers able to understand the facts, that there was 
/ a crisis in Cuba. The mettle and the method, the 

I power and conduct of the insurgents, were made known 

on that bloody field, to the world. It was the first 
sharp check that Campos received and the time when 
he was admonished that his part as conquering hero 
was well nigh played through. 

He was in the field with several columns to attack 

the Cubans near Bayamo and left Manzanillo with 

1,500 men. General Lachambre, with about the same 

number, left Bayamo, and General Valdes was moving 

from the North with 2,000 men. The Spanish pursued 

/ the usual course of operating in detachments — a policy 

I dictated by bad roads, and the cloudy state of the 

■ Cuban forces — who are like a mist in the woods and 

quick to develop a storm. 

The Cubans got together nearly 3,000 men in a posi- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 2/3 

tion to prevent the union of the gathering Spaniards 
and to strike them separately — a scheme that Spanish 
strategy invited. Campos had the Isabella, the Cath- 
oUc Battahon, three companies of the Sixth Peninsular 
Battalion, one company of engineers and two compa- 
nies of mounted guerillas. The insurgents were drawn 
up on a stock farm and strongly posted. There was 
some uncertainty as to the guide of the captain-general, 
an old negro, and his column changed its course — it is 
not certain through advices or accident — avoiding the 
ambuscade arranged for the general's column, the pur- 
pose be^ng to crush him with a machete charge. The 
insurgents did ^ot get the Spaniards as they wanted 
them, and then mistook the formation of the column, 
which was advancing with twenty-five explorers lead- 
ing, then General Santocildes with 500 men, then Cam- 
pos, and then a strong rear guard. 

The insurgents mistook the immediate command of 
Santocildes, who closely followed the pioneers, for that 
of Campos, the centre of the column which they meant 
to assail first, and then to strike the rear guard. The 
fight was partially on wooded hills and a long and 
bloody affair. The firing was sharp on both sides, and 
in the midst of a Spanish charge General Santocildes 
was killed, and the heel of Campos' boot was torn by a 
bullet. The keen eyes of Maceo, who was in com- 
mand of the rebel cavalry, perceived from the commo- 
tion that some important Spanish officer had fallen, 
and was encouraged to make enthusiastic efforts to 
win decisively. Campos at last formed with his whole 
force a hollow square, and the horses and mules killed 
and the wagons were used as breastworks. In this 
formation the struggle went on several hours with 



2/4 ^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

varying fortunes, Campos personally directing the de- 
fense and constantly exposed to the deadly aim of 
swarms of sharpshooters. 

The insurgents tried early on this field their favorite 
stroke at the baggage train, with the hope of getting 
ammunition. They are fond of attacking the vanguard 
of the Spanish force in a spirited way, making a real 
assault, but not in full force, while the main body 
moves on the flank, eluding observation if possible, and 
when there is the greatest possible diversion, making a 
grand rush upon the rear guard, counting it the great- 
est success to capture ammunition. Maceo tried this at 
Bayamo, and recently repeated the operation at Pinar 
del Rio, avoiding the main body of his enemy and 
going for the cartridges. At Bayamo the rear guard 
fought its, way to the main body, and completed the 
Spanish square. The generalship of Campos on this 
critical occasion has been highly commended. The 
position which he assumed and his personal presence 
prevented a rout, and the Spaniards, finding themselves 
able to hold their ground, grew composed, and were, 
late in the afternoon, put in motion toward Bayamo. 
The insurgents made gallant efforts to break the Span- 
ish formation, and poured a heavy fire into them on 
their right flank as they left the field, keeping it up 
until some large buildings sheltered the beaten column 
of the captain-general, and late in the evening the com- 
bat ceased. 

The Spaniards were this day severely shaken and 
their losses heavy. The rebels claimed to have found 
thirteen Spanish officers killed. The Cubans had two 
colonels, Goulet and Machedo, killed, and Colonel Gon- 
gora wounded. The Spanish loss is not known, for 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 2/5 

their official reports are rarely complete, and usually 
highly colored. Several of the staff of General Santo- 
cildes were killed and wounded ; and the Cubans, 
admitting fifty killed and wounded, claim that 300 
Spaniards fell dead or disabled. 

We have followed the Cuban account of this action 
closely. The Spanish story does not give Campos as 
much credit as he gets from the Cubans, but distin- 
guishes General Santocildes as the real hero of the day. 
The Spaniards say : 

On the 12th of July, Martinez Campos left Manzanillo for Bayamo 
with an escort of 400, and, while on the road, other troops joined Cam- 
pos, forming a column 1,550 strong, at Veguitas. Campos proceeded 
with his escort toward Barrancas, at 4 o'clock the following morning, 
and instructed General Santocildes to leave for Bueycitowith 1,150 men. 
Santocildes did so, and going faster than Campos, and following the 
same road, he almost overtook him, when Campos sent back one of his 
aides to remind Santocildes that he should march toward Bueycito. 
This happened for a second time, and then Santocildes advanced to 
meet the general, and said he had not yet found a certain road he pre- 
ferred to take. This was a good excuse ; Campos evidently wanted to 
go alone, while Santocildes would neither allow that, or openly disobey 
his instructions ; he knew there was danger. They had been riding 
together for a short time, when Maceo's vanguard opened fire. 

Maceo had called and gathered together several bands, numbering 
nearly 6,000 men, to fall upon Bayamo, and having learned that Campos 
was going there without an army, he determined to take him by surprise. 
The Spaniards, in fact, were soon attacked from every direction, and 
Santocildes, at the head of his column, broke the enemy's lines several 
times, and advanced, only to be encircled again. Both the regulars and 
the rebels fought fiercely, and in the midst Santocildes was killed. 

Campos then took command of the column, and continued his ad- 
vance, sometime on the defensive and sometime attacking, until he 
arrived at Bayamo, as intended, about 10 p.m. The column lost 123 
men, killed or wounded, and the insurgents over 200. This encounter 
took place near Peralejo. It may be said that Santocildes sacrificed his 
own life to save that of his friend and superior. 



2/6 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

There are many reports about the personal fortunes 
of Campos on this field ; one, an insurgent authority, is 
this : " Campos only saved himself by a ruse. Taking 
advantage of the Cubans' well-knov^n respect for the 
wounded, he had himself placed in a covered stretcher, 
which they allowed to pass without looking inside the 
cover. When outside of the Cuban lines he was ob- 
liged to walk on foot to Bayamo, through six miles of 
by-paths, under cover of the darkness, only accom- 
panied by his colored guide." 

It must be admitted there is a touch of the extremely 
improbable about this, but nothing of that nature 
should daunt those who really care to believe, and the 
romance is not a bad one. 

There is another story that has had large circulation 
in Cuba, that Maceo, perceiving Campos in the midst of 
the fight, and recognizing him, pointed him out to his 
men and told them not to kill him, as he was a soldier 
who made war honorably ! Still another probable fic- 
tion, but a pretty one, is that a son of Campos, a lieu- 
tenant, was made prisoner and released with a friendly 
message to his father, who was of course expected to 
follow so admirable an example. 

The following letter from Maceo is consistent with 
the Cuban policy from the first in the treatment of 
wounded : 
To His Excellency, The General Martinez Campos. 

Dear Sir : Anxious to give careful and efficient attendance to the 
wounded Spanish soldiers that your troops left behind on the battle-field, 
I have ordered that they be lodged in the houses of the Cuban families 
that live nearest to the battle grounds, until you send for them. 

With my assurance that the forces you may send to escort them back 
will not meet any hostile demonstrations from my soldiers, I have the 
honor to be, sir, Yours respectfully, Antonio Maceo. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBER 7 Y. 2/7 

Of course, as the insurgents cannot maintain hos- 
pitals, they have reason to set a good precedent in the 
treatment of the wounded ; but that should not detract 
from the credit due them for their undoubted human- 
ity. Campos, in his reports to the home government, 
did not deny the gravity of the situation at Bayamo, 
and, indeed, got very candid about his difficulties some- 
time before they culminated in his retirement, which 
was a confession of failure. 



2/8 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

THE MASSACRE AT GAUTAO. 

A Seaside Breakfast and the Cuban Flag — The Road into the Cuban 
Republic — How the Rebels Foraged — The Gulf and the Sharks — 
The First News of the Massacre — The Tale of a Volunteer who 
Participated — Eighteen Pacificos Killed to Two Soldiers — Marcy 
Reports — Adventures of Correspondents — Talk with General Wey- 
ler on the Subject — The Dismal Scene at the Palace. 

There were continually in Havana last winter differ- 
ences of opinion as to the reliability of rumors of bloody 
outrages in various parts of the country. Each day 
brought some new tale of terror, and there was a steady 
current of accounts of " battles." The Spaniards, having 
the inner line and greater facilities for publication, as a 
rule got out their statements first, though at times the 
wires gave forth curious secrets that, after a time, 
seemed to refer in some degree to events that through 
official condescension were mentioned. The magnetic 
affiliations of telegraphy must have puzzled the oper- 
ators ignorant of ciphers and innocent of schemes. As 
a matter of course, the official bulletins were discredited 
as to " combats." 

The regular affair, in which from five to seventeen 
insurgents were killed, and many wounded, and the 
ground strewn with lost hats and guns and dead horses, 
all showing victory for the government, while the Span- 
iards lost a horse or two, and had two men wounded, 
and closed the struggle with a bayonet charge, became 
^ cornmon grievance, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 279 

Occasionally there would be signs, and much matter 
printed, of a fight, in which some persons were hurt, 
and there were participants and localities named, so 
that when the news came by grapevine, we could 
formally identify the "■ engagements," but there was 
hardly ever found a show of resemblance between the 
respective histories of the conflicting sides. There was 
much wretchedness uncovered here and there, frequent 
hard cases of impoverished millionaires, estates visited 
by hostile bands, cane fields fired, houses and villages 
burned, machinery broken, and assassinations on the 
road. 

One of the things repeated so often that it became 
difficult to consent to the opinion that it had any foun- 
dation, was, that there came into a small village a troop 
of rebels, who helped themselves to whatever they re- 
quired, or that took their fancy, especially groceries 
and preserved meats and articles of clothing. When 
the place had been ransacked the intruders w^ould de- 
part, and then came the Spaniards, enraged that their 
enemies had found supplies, and they would say: " Oh, 
you have had scoundrels here, have you, and you fed 
them ; you gave them all you had, eh ? " The answer 
was, "They took what they would; I could not help it. 
They carried away my property. I was robbed, that 
was all." Then came, " You had them come, and you 
did not fight. You helped them, and you are rebels, 
too, and cowards also; there, then;" and " bang ! bang ! " 
went the guns, and the people were killed because they 
had been robbed. 

There were four men at a plantation. The rebels 
came along, and took the horses and corn and cattle. 
Then came the Spaniards, and said, '' Aha ! you gave 



28o THE STORY OF CUBA. 

up everything to the scoundrels, so then you will not 
fight them," and it was " bang ! bang ! " again, and the 
four men were dead. There was an innocent American 
citizen, fitted with a romantic Spanish name, a gentle- 
man, rather dark and excitable, speaking no English at 
all, and never known to be out of the Island, but fully 
equipped with naturalization papers of citizenship in 
Florida; and the Spaniards, finding that he had been 
visited by rebels, called and beat him and robbed his 
house and stables — and there was a case for the Amer- 
ican consul — and there were darker stories of murders, 
and worse than murders, and the sincere seeker for 
truth was perplexed in the extreme. 

One thing only was certain. There was a flood of 
misfortune rolling over the golden Island, the torrent 
was sweeping away plantations, towns, families — where 
there had been wealth there was poverty — and the dark 
desolating waters reflecting fires were tinged with blood 
and rising higher and spreading wdder were merciless 
as the deluge. The soldiers marched in the street, and 
the roll of drums told of their progress. The red and 
yellow flags decked the balconies and streamed from 
the towers, and the children danced at night to the 
mellow strains of a band from Andalusia, the dark 
eyes of beauty gazing out with anxiety, flashed at the 
windows guarded by bars of steel. 

The coming of the new captain-general was a horror. 
"There is no one man or woman safe in this Island with 
this man here — Oh ! Why do not the dead of the long 
war rise from their graves to fight ? " was the cry of a 
woman despairing for herself, her family, and her 
country. 

The clouds came up from the Caribbean Sea, majestic 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. . 28 1 

in their gloom and poured rivers over the city, and 
the sun and. the wind came and the mud was dust 
again. Troops arrived from Spain and saw rockets 
flaring and heard the guns of Moro, and flowers were 
thrown, and birds, adorned with ribbons, were flung by 
fair hands from windows into the ranks. Marching up 
from the wharf from which Cortez sailed for Mexico 
and conquered Montezuma, and De Soto embarked for 
Florida and discovered the Mississippi — the little temple 
and big tree on the spot where the first mass was said 
in the Americas on one hand, and the palace of the cap- 
tain-generals on the other — were the dusky boys of Spain, 
the bayonets twinkling over them. The cries of the 
newsboys are heard in the streets with " Extras," and 
the Cubans in their own way interpret the Spanish 
sheets, and who shall know what is so, and who shall 
tell that the truth is here when he sees or hears that 
which is the fact or fancy of the hour ? 

It was a sunny Sunday morning and I was invited to 
go to breakfast twelve miles away — down the road to 
Marianao — not then so well known as now, and from 
that charming suburb by a prong of roads that slanted 
westward to the Gulf of Mexico. I had visited Mari- 
anao before, another lovely day, and walked beyond 
where there was a bright deep stream that they call a 
river, and stood upon the gigantic mass of stone arches, 
a bridge that would have passed in Europe as one of 
the mighty works of the Romans. This was the fron- 
tier; cattle were grazing in the valley, boys were fishing 
'with little scoop nets on poles; there were cocoanut 
palms and orange trees hanging over fences of wild 
pine trimmed with the machete; there were little forts 
in conspicuous places, and the porch of a large house 



282 THE srORY OF CUBA. 

at the corner looking toward the bridge was walled 
with sand bags, and volunteers walking about vvitK 
glittering rifles, and on a spire was a look-out with a 
glass, with ceaseless vigilance watching all the ap- 
proaches. But I need not have been surprised, for I 
had seen the Treasury Building at Washington barri- 
caded and guarded by many loaded rifles. At Mari- 
anao there were trees in bloom, and hanging over the 
side of a noble residence was a wondrous sheet of 
flowers, rich in color — looking like a matchless drop- 
curtain in a gorgeous theatre, too radiant for the en- 
tertainment of mortals. 

It was over the huge bridge, spanning the small 
stream, that the volunteers and firemen and a company 
of Spanish regulars marched a few days later — on the 
night before I set out for that neighborhood to break- 
fast by the sea — to the village of Punta Brava and the 
further village of Gautao, where a tragedy, of which 
the world has heard, took place. The sun was hot that 
Sunday morning on the white shore and coral rocks 
and the snowy surf and the shining waters, each wave 
crested with jewels of incomparable splendor that van- 
ished in the exquisite sand. 

Before we sat down to breakfast, a gentleman who 
lived in the vicinity said, " We had our friends, the 
enemy, with us here last night. They came in and were 
all around us, and helped themselves to hams and 
chickens. They were quiet fellows and behaved fairly 
well, were rather hungry though, and those about very 
early this morning wanted coffee above all things. 
One was suspected of milking a cow !" 

" You refer to the insurgents, of course ? " 

" Yes, they go about freely, and there is not anybody 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 283 

to molest them ; no troops, no firemen, no police. This 
is a free country." 

" How far is it to where there is a position that they 
hold." This question was mine. "Come with me to 
the top of the house, and I will show you their flag ; " 
and we ascended to the roof, the citizen carrying a big 
spy-glass, with which I was directed to scan a hill a 
couple of miles southwest, and there was a flag sure 
enough, but from the way the wind was blowing the 
folds I could not make it out further than to be sure it 
was not the flag of Spain. 

"What do you call the boundary between the ground 
held by the opposing forces?" 

"You see the bridge there," pointing to one a quarter 
of a mile distant across the same stream that flows 
under the walls of Marianao and through the colossal 
arch said to be a monument to slave labor, "that bridge 
may be called neutral territory." 

" How far beyond is it supposed one would have to 
walk to meet the gentlemen who want to be recognized 
as bellig-erents ? " 

"That depends. The sand is deep on the road arid 
there is not much shade, but walk that way and you 
can probably find yourself under the jurisdiction of a 
Cuban government half a mile from this. I can war- 
rant your meeting a picket half a mile over the bridge. 
There are but a few, say ten, with good horses and 
guns, and where you see the flag there are about fifty, 
and half an hour's walk beyond, fifty more, and so on 
all the roads. If there is a main body it is four or five 
miles away. They do not do much shooting, for they 
have very little ammunition, and are ordered to spend 
no cartridofes unless the shooting is orood." 



284 ^^-^ STORY OF CUBA. 

"This would be rather a clever side road into the 
region of the rebellion, would it not ? What is to hin- 
der the Havana men who want to join the army from 
doing it right here ?" "Nothing." " Why do they not 
come this way, then?" "Cannot say. Maybe they 
do." " Why do not the Spaniards, who take so much 
pains in many places, guard this line?" The answer 
was to the effect that the Spaniard, unless stirred up, 
was rather stupidly a disbeliever in danger. 

The long white slope up which the surf flashed, one 
curling line of snow succeeding another with regular 
pulsations, and the delicate greens and blues of the 
deep glowing in the sunlight, suggested a bath and a 
question about sharks, and it appeared that the biters 
were unpopular visitors to that part of the coast. But 
owing to the precautions that are Cuban and effective, 
there had not for several years been fatal accidents. 

There was a charming breakfast, that was concluded 
about I o'clock, and then came a sudden sensation, a 
painful surprise. There had been a massacre just over 
the hills to the left, beyond Marianao; an incursion of 
the rebels as far as Punta Brava, and near that village 
was the small place Gautao. One of the young men 
employed at the house where we breakfasted had 
been engaged in the affair as a member of a volunteer 
company, and returned to his duties, was telling of the 
bloody business. His story was that news came to 
Marianao of the presence of the enemy at Punta Brava, 
and the volunteers and firemen were rushed to the 
scene of the presence of the insurgents, who, not expect- 
ing so much heartiness of movement, were surprised, but 
finding themselves outnumbered, took refuge in the 
houses, where they were pursued, and the general re- 




I. CUBANS IN AMBUSH. 3. SPANISH VOLUNTEER. 

3. A TYPICAL FORT. 



HER STRUGGLES J^OR LIBERTY. 



287 



suit was twenty dead men. The officer I saw was one 
who had collected the bodies, and of the twenty only 
two were certainly of the insurgent forces — the rest 
were Pacificos, or townsmen, non-combatants. 

There was oreneral interest and intense feelino^ in 
Havana about the slaughter at first associated with 
Marianao then with Punta Brava, and finally with 
Gautao, the actual location of the killing. The Cubans 
were exceedingly agitated, and their bitterness was 
fierce in proportion as it was suppressed. The Span- 
iards regarded the incident as a victory. ^ They had 
the mitigation, certainly, that the insurgents had been 
trotting in and out of the villages, and some of them 
had been caught there and found shelter in the frail 
houses — the dwellings of poor people. There could be 
no reasonable doubt, however, of the character of the 
tragedy. 

The force of troops that advanced from Marianao, 
under the commandant at that post, was too strong to 
be in peril from any band of insurgents within half a 
day's ride, and it was not necessary to secure the actual 
fighting men present that assaults upon all suspected 
houses should be made. As soon as the attack in 
support of the search w^as opened, the ferocity of blood- 
hounds was exhibited by the troops. They were in 
an ungovernable frenzy, and regarded the villagers 
as sympathetic with the rebels,, as they no doubt 
were, for they all are, and the miserables were vindic- 
tively killed in their homes, some sick and helpless in 
bed. There was no restraining discipline and no qual- 
ity of mercy. When the end came the dead were 
gathered, and there were twenty bloody corpses, only 
two men claimed by the soldiers who had slain them 



288 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

to have died with arms in their hands. There were 
rumors that had circulation, that happily were not veri- 
fied, that several women had been killed, and that 
others had been stripped of their clothing on the pre- 
tense that they might be rebel soldiers in disguise ! 
On the subject of this butchery I happened to have 
information from original sources, and the time has not 
come to give all the testimony, and how it was ob- 
tained, for there are still chances for other hearts to 
bleed. 

Two American newspaper men, who have not had the 
full credit their courage and enterprise merit, passed 
through the lines and visited the streets and houses where 
the bloodshed took place, and found the worst rumors — 
save those i:egarding the women — to be true ; and they 
ascertained the names of nine of the victims. The same 
names, and two additional, were furnished me on a mys- 
terious scrap of paper from the bloody village, and there 
were other particulars of confirmation altogether conclu- 
sive. There was no fact that appeared suggesting an ex- 
cuse for the slaughter, except that there were insurgents 
in the village. The Marquis de Cervera, the commandant 
of Marianao, made a report of his victory, and the fact 
that one Spaniard had been mortally and one slightly 
wounded, was held sufficient to prove that there had 
been a " combat ; " and the marquis was duly congrat- 
ulated upon his gallant achievement. In a personal in- 
terview with Captain - General Weyler, I asked him 
whether he proposed to investigate the Gautao inci- 
dent for his own satisfaction, and his reply was, with 
an air of surprise, that the afi^air had been officially 
reported, and he was aware there had been a " com- 
bat." Afterward, there came from Marianao the moth- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 289 

ers, wives and sisters of " the Pacificos " who had been 
murdered. They filled a railroad car, and crowded 
the anteroom in the palace — as dreary and wretched a 
spectacle as has ever been witnessed in the course of 
this horrible war. The women bore in their deep-lined 
faces the stamp of their agony. They were plainly the 
people of poverty, but had the respectability of neat- 
ness, and the gloomy expression of hopeless sorrow 
fixed upon them all was something dreadful. 

The reason of speaking so fully of this is, that the place 
was well known in Havana — a suburb near the sea, and 
beautifully situated, familiar to the whole city — and the 
people for miles around Punta Brava and Gautao were 
so terrified by the conduct of the troops that they fled 
to Marianao and to Havana, where they were sheltered, 
so far as possible, by friends, and told their straight- 
forward stories, some of which were taken down, word 
for word, and furnished me, and I did not publish them, 
and do not now, because some bereaved woman might 
have to suffer for her word spoken in the excitement of 
terror, and perhaps of inability to realize the proportion 
of circumstances. If one should even say what the 
humble, honest occupation was of one who mourned 
her dead, she would be designated, and there might be 
some scamp hateful enough to repeat and distort the 
communication that she unwittingly gave American 
correspondents, and additional suffering for her because 
she had spoken freely to those who reported her, for 
the sake of the truth. The evidence is abundant. The 
panic that seized the peasantry of the district stained 
with innocent blood, was not propagated by the news- 
papers — for the fugitives acted not on what they had 

read, but upon their own knowledge. They were like 

C-17 



290 - THE STORY OF CUBA. 

deer escaping from wolves. There have been hundreds 
of reports of dreadful deeds — murders by regular 
troops, by insurgents, by bandits — the innocent " Pa- 
cificos " perishing because, perhaps, those engaged in 
vs^ar resisted successfully, and the shedding of blood 
seemed in itself to supply a military w^ant. 

Cuba is full of tales resembhng that of Gautao, but 
far the greater number are beyond the range of inves- 
tigation, and this bloody picture is painted to a finish, 
because it is typical, and touches up w^ith the light of 
reality the darkness of the horror-haunted Island. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 29 1 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

HORRORS OF MORO CASTLE. 

A Newspaper Correspondent Arbitrarily Arrested — A Night and Two 
Days in an Ugly Dungeon— Neglect of Prisoners — A Case of Mis- 
taken Identity — Released, but Apology not Made — The Claim of 
Clemency, not Justice, Insisted Upon — The Exclusive Society of 
Gray Rats Not Agreeable. 

Charles Michelson, a well-known journalist of Cal- 
ifornia, was one of the enterprising" and lively young 
men in Havana, engaged in newspaper correspondence, 
and rather fretful that we had to defer so much to the 
caprices of the military censorship. He suddenly had 
the experience of a military arrest, and found himself a 
prisoner in Moro Castle, without liberty to communi- 
cate with friends. 

The Monday morning after the massacre near Punta 
Brava, which is fourteen miles southwest of Havana, 
Michelson with his interpreter, Lorenzo Betoncourt, 
started out to investigate. At Marianao, the end of 
the run by cars, Michelson took the reasonable precau- 
tion to ask the commandant, who happened to be a per- 
sonal acquaintance, for authorization to go to the scene 
of the "combat." He was unexpectedly refused, and 
therefore did not go forward, but gathered the essen- 
tial facts from fugitives. 

That night we parted at midnight, going to our 
respective rooms in the same hotel, and it was a sur- 
prise in the morning to find he had been captured by 



292 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the military police. The next news was of the arrest 
of Betoncourt and the transfer of the prisoners in sep- 
arate boats to Moro Castle, w^here they were placed in 
separate cells. They were thus hustled into solitary 
confinement, rated as prisoners " in comuno cadoT It 
was difficult to learn upon what charge the arrest had 
been made, but late in the afternoon the wild romance 
was officially given out that Michelson's crimes were 
communicating with the enemy and assaulting the 
guards. We have explained what the first part of the 
charge amounted to ; the second, that of doing violence 
to sacred officers, was pure fiction. 

The American correspondents found it difficult at 
first to see in the arrest of Michelson the seriousness of 
the incident, for it is the privilege of freedom to smile 
at despotism, and the proceedings they generally knew 
were on a charge based on a case of mistaken identity ; 
but the Cuban friends of Betoncourt, w^ho is a citizen 
of the United States, were deeply alarmed and dis- 
tressed, and the lines of old sorrows were on their 
faces. That one dear to them is in Moro Castle is of 
awful significance to Cubans. 

It is almost impossible to see a distinguished official 
in Havana before his 1 1 o'clock breakfast, and this day 
the governor-general drove out to call, and it was 5 
o'clock before Consul-General Williams got an audi- 
ence. General Weyler's smile of welcome was cut 
sharply as the grave tones of the American consul fell 
on his ear. Mr. Williams put the matter forcibly, sure 
that it was a simple and clear case. The captain-gen- 
eral's reply was that he' would be very glad if the mat- 
ter turned out as represented, and he would order the 
case investigated immediately. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 293 

It is an interesting illustration of the use of language 
that when the report was made to Michelson, in his cell, 
that his case should not be delayed, it was put that 
there was to be a "summary proceeding," and the idea 
of that sort of "proceeding" in Moro Castle is closely asso- 
ciated in the American mind with shooting on the spot. 
In a second call by the consul-general on the captain- 
general, he said there would be no time lost in reach- 
ing a decision, and after a few hours watching and 
waiting, in walked the " captive set free " and, with 
other correspondents, we had a celebration. 

It was my intention to leave for New York on Thurs- 
day, and as Michelson was to wait in Havana, I wished 
to give him a "send off" at the palace, and turn over 
as much good will as might be transferred. Also it 
was proper he should see the captain-general and thank 
him for his "summary proceedings." Our first call was 
upon the accomplished marquis, the secretary of the 
government. The marquis was sorry I was going, 
and generous in compliments. Did the marquis think 
the captain-general could be seen then? As I w^anted 
to pay respects and take leave — why, the captain-gen- 
eral might be seen, and the marquis saw him for us 
and in a minute returned, saying his excellency would 
see us at once. There was noticed somethinor odd on 
the face of the marquis as he came back to take us to 
the general — something of amusement — almost appre- 
hensiveness — -and as we reached the floor of the picture 
gallery and paused standing, in a flash the general 
came through a little door, making, what the actors 
call, a very effective entry ! There was no acting about 
this — it meant business — a real life scene. The inter- 
preter said, as the general shook hands briefly with me, 



294 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



and looked around with a spark in his eye, that I had 
called to pay my respects and take leave. That the 
general had something on his mind was plain in his 
fixed jaw and fiery eye, but he bowed in recognition of 
the call (my P. P. C. as it were) and Michelson's thanks 
were to be the very next thing, for evidently there was 
to be no time lost, and there was a chill in the air. The 
general knew Michelson was in the group, singled him 
out and "spoke right out in meeting," saying he had 
ordered his release and that of his interpreter, though 
he knew their guilt ! The testimony was positive and 
conclusive, and the release was granted solely on the 
grounds of personal regard for his friends and friend- 
ship and favor for the American people ; and all should 
understand this was a signal instance not of justice but 
of clemency. 

This speech hardly needed interpretation. It was 
peremptory, harsh, menacing, absolute — such a speech 
as Junius Brutus Booth, the elder, might, in the height 
of his power, have delivered. I shook my head as the 
language was rendered, attempting to convey a strong 
negative and saying, " Your excellency believes false 
testimony. It is an illusion." How fully this was in- 
terpreted I do not know, for the interpreter was in- 
terrupted sharply by the impetuous general, and 
Michelson was assured that the falsity of his represen- 
tation was known, aye ! proven, and yet he was al- 
lowed to go free ! It must be understood that he was 
guilty and discharged through favor and mercy ! 
Michelson spoke to the purpose, saying, he would like to 
meet the men who accused him. The captain-general 
seemed surprised, and Michelson was assured that he 
would have a chance to confront those who testified. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 29; 

In a moment the captain-general's departure at the side 
scene was as effective as his entry. The explanatory 
truth is, two young men who did not suppose there 
would be any objection to going on from Marianao to 
the scene of the tragedy, and did not imagine that the 
territory traversed daily by a licensed coach, which 
they took in good faith to go and come — and did go 
and come in it — was believed by the commandant to 
be the men who applied for a permit and were refused. 
It was his testimony the captain-general held with heat 
to be indisputable ; and his anger burned fiercely to 
think Michelson dared defy the military order — which 
he had not done — and neither did the two correspond- 
ents, who did not know the marquis and asked him no 
questions. 

Michelson's account of his arrest is that there was a 
thumping on his door at 1:30 a. m., and eight persons, 
in uniform, entered, and there were soldier police on 
the sidewalk and in the hall. His room was searched, 
and his photographic apparatus was a great curiosity, 
and seemed to be regarded as an implacable enemy ; 
and their lack of knowledge was in evidence by the fact 
the officers held the undeveloped film to the light in an 
endeavor to see what pictures Michelson had taken. 
This, of course, destroyed the negatives. Michelson was 
seated at his own table to make a statement of what 
he had been doing on Feb. 24th, and his statements, 
perfectly true, were heard with jocular incredulity. 

The search over, he was taken to the police office, 
where he caused one man to laugh when the guard was 
relieved, by suggesting that he also wanted relief. An- 
other of the guards refused to laugh, " scratched his 
chin with a bayonet, but accepted a cigarette." 



296 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Just at dawn an officer came, and the words, ''A el 
Moro,'" were heard, This order to take him to the castle 
sounded serious. With soldiers behind, before, and on 
each side of him, he was marched through the streets 
to the water, as if he had been a dangerous chief. He 
was taken to the other shore, and marched up to the 
ugly entrance of the hoary, grimy castle, and stood 
in the gloomy, arched doorway until they were ready 
to take him to the cell, an arch of huge masonry, a ceil- 
ing of beams, damp with moisture that had risen from 
prisoners for many years, the whitewashed walls 
scrawled upon and smeared. A window high up in the 
arch, barred so that a squirrel could not slip through 
the irons, or an elephant break the bars, and that was 
all. No cot : not even a blanket or a chair. 

But he had company enough of a certain sort, for his 
entrance scattered a crowd of cockroaches, and as they 
ran into the rotten cracks, he heard the shuffling and the 
squealing of rats. Too tired to think, too wretched to 
dream, he threw his overcoat down on the cleanest spot 
he could find, and fell asleep for an hour or two. When 
he woke he was hungry and very thirsty, but no amount 
of kicking on the cell door, and by no noise could he 
attract the attention of the soldiers, so he tramped 
around the cell until he was weary and worried, and, as 
he says : "I realized that if I began to be nervous in 
that place so soon that the horrors could not be far off. 
I finally went over and corrected the askewness of the 
eyes of the face of a man which some poor devil had 
drawn, but that was when I had reached the point when 
any employment, no matter how trivial, was a luxury. 
It was cross-eyed and annoyed me." 

The window, ten feet above the ground, interested 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 299 

him, and the marks were there of the feet of the many 
prisoners who had clambered up there, and by crouch- 
ing at the bars, got the total of their daily pleasure in 
the sight of the world without. 

He, too, climbed up. The view was fine, but a guard 
ran up from outside, and poked at him with his bayo- 
net. As an amusement, during all that day, he watched 
the chances to clamber up again, and get down before 
the man with the bayonet could reach him. He tried 
the blandishments of small silver, cigars and cigarettes, 
but was not permitted to look out of the window, and 
he tried to buy a lead pencil, but was told that prison- 
ers " in comuno cado " were not permitted to write, and 
he asked for a book, or something to read, but was told 
that prisoners were not permitted to read. 

He counted the number of boards in the floor, there 
were twenty-six ; and the number of beams in the ceiling, 
there were fourteen ; and the number of bars in the win- 
dow. The changing of the guard was a sensational 
incident, and about noon (he had had nothing to eat or 
drink since the evening before) they brought him a tin 
basin full of soldiers' soup and beans, and a coal-oil can 
full of water. The soup was strong and scummy, and 
the can had been so recently emptied of its original con- 
tents that there was a film of oil over the top of it. He 
said : "Before dark I was glad of the excitement of sit- 
ting very still, and waiting breathlessly to see if an old 
rat, whose head I had caught sight of peeking through 
a crack, would come out. I spent the hours before I 
could go to sleep, in a vain endeavor to head that rat 
off from the hole, and when at last I closed my eyes 
there on the floor, with my overcoat for bed and cov- 
ering, it was after the longest day I had ever spent. 



300 T^HE STORY OF CUBA. 

" Of course, I could not sleep the night through. The 
half-hourly cry of ' sentinel alerta,' was interesting at 
first, but I got to hate the cry before morning, and 
morning was a long time coming 

" In one sound sleep I was startled into wakefulness 
by what I thought was a hand upon my face. It was 
not a hand, it was my old friend, the big gray rat, cu- 
rious about my hair." 

The silver scattered had some effect, for at day- 
light a cup of coffee came — a rare favor. This second 
day it was the same thing over again. He inspected 
the cell, counted the boards, wished that the guards 
would change oftener, took long walks around his 
cell — in one stretch 140 rounds — and tied wonderful 
knots with a piece of twine that came around his break- 
fast ; and scratching his name and the date with a rusty 
nail was another pleasurable employment. 

The two days were eternity, and yet he was well 
treated, compared with his interpreter, who passed his 
first night in a fouler cell than Michelson's, and had 
been bound. If there was humor in this transaction, 
Michelson did not at once appreciate it. If it was a 
joke, it was grim. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 301 



CHAPTER XIX. 

THE SECOND YEAR OF THE SECOND WAR. 

The Condition of the Country Approaching the Second Rainy Season • 
of the Struggle — Why the War-Cry went forth in February — The 
Sagacity of Gomez in Choosing Time and Place — Preparing for his 
Remarkable Campaign — The Policy of Destruction — Why it was 
Adopted — The Way the Spaniards are Retaliating — Cuba Laid Waste 
by Both Combatants — War, Pestilence and Famine — The Terrible 
Privations and Distress of the People. 

There have been many wars in and about and around 
Cuba, but only two that may be called Cuban — that of 
the ten years, from 1868 to 1878, and the present. The 
English, French, and Spanish, when at the height of 
their maritime power, compared with others, and them- 
selves the foremost of nations in enlightenment, en- 
terprise and progressive development, warred in and 
for Cuba, and for the seas surrounding her and the 
islands of those seas, and there came also pirates and 
filibusters, and used the shelter of her shores to as- 
sail them and the commerce that sailed from them or 
found its channels beside them. 

There were armaments and assaults, aggressive ex- 
peditions and vengeful massacres ; riotings in the cities 
and insurrections of slaves. The struggle of the Cuban 
people for themselves, their fights for liberty, were the 
two wars whose causes, course and consequences w^e 
are tracing ; and we are in the second year of the sec- 
ond war. 

The last week of February of 1895 did not happen 



302 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

accidentally to be chosen for the declaration of the con- 
test that is progressing. Time and place were carefully 
taken into account. Those engaged in the prelimina- 
ries for Cuban revolt were wise in the affairs and the 
policy of Spain, and could very well understand the 
weaknesses she would develop in action, and the lines 
on which her resources could be most certainly and 
swiftly crippled. 

One man especially was able to form an accurate 
judgment from personal experience, and was profoundly 
able to plan the campaign that was coming. We refer 
not to the ardent patriot so soon to fall, Jose Marti, but 
to the old military chieftain, Maximo Gomez. He had 
so far been informed of the state of the Island that he 
was certain Spain would underrate the insurrection. 
She would look upon it as at the worst for her, assum- 
ing the proportions during the first year that had been 
attained in the last year of the first war. 

Gomez knew that the renewed conflagration was to 
be the most widespread that ever broke out, and that 
the Spanish government would be certain to be slug- 
gish at the start to meet the real danger, partially 
that it was the habit of Spaniards, but principally 
because they would naturally undervalue the forces 
that were to be put in motion against them. If he had 
not had confidence in the resources to be placed at 
his command, Gomez would have selected the most 
difficult and dangerous season of the year to send 
forth the war-cry for field operations ; but he nicely 
measured the time and materials and the ways as well 
as the means of his partizans and enemies, and the 
opening of the spring, as it would be called in temper- 
ate countries, was fixed as the time for the war procla- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 3O3 

mation. He wanted some months for getting the 
insurgents out and organized, and he did not want 
them drenched and scorched in the rainy season to 
begin with. He gave himself the good campaigning 
time of March, April and May for field preparations, 
knowing that when the Spaniards would appreciate the 
magnitude of the work cut out for them and pour in 
their battalions, their movement would be checked by 
the rains and fear of the fever, and he have the oppor- 
tunities of three quarters of a year for development. 
It turned out just so, 

Martinez Campos first tried his old persuasive meth- 
ods and then ascertained that there were a million 
Cubans to combat with; and when his urgent calls for 
more troops were responded to and they had been 
gathered, and made the long voyage and landed, the 
rains came and with them the full power of the 
tropical sun and the fever, and by the time he had 
found how unavailable were his peace measures and 
his mud marches, and consented to wait until the cam- 
paigning conditions had come to pass, Gomez had 
made ready for his raid from Santiago to Pinar del 
Rio, which was more than a surprise — it was astound- 
ing, and with the invasion of the central and western 
regions of the Island, rich in the sugar and tobacco 
plantations — the sources of Cuban wealth and Spanish 
revenue — was developed the grand tactics of desolation. 

In his long march, which was as great a distance as 
from Philadelphia to Detroit, not only the scope of the 
rebellion was extended, but its strength increased at 
every step. Campos was out-generaled before he took 
command. The revolutionists had formed a resolution 
of desperation. It was to put an end to the prosperity 



304 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

of the contested country for all purposes of those who 
had selfishly and oppressively misgoverned it. The 
Spanish had made themselves foreigners, except as 
holders of offices and special privileges and as consum- 
ers of the substance of the people. Spain had made 
Cuba her slave, and had to pay the penalty in the hor- 
rors of servile insurrection. 

Gomez knew well the old story in warfare of the 
Spanish Trocha — a line across the island — and, knowing 
its invulnerability was an illusion, he gave himself no 
concern about it, and when the time came marched 
through and began the westward movement that was 
his master-stroke of warfare. He stopped cane grind- 
ing just as the sugar planters were about to begin it, 
and when his orders were disregarded he burned cane 
fields as warnings, and explained his purpose. It was to 
cut off the supply of sugar for exportation so that there 
.would be nothing with which to pay for the importa- 
tions on which the Spanish duties were collected. Cane 
fields enough were burned to alarm the planters gener- 
ally, and when any of them were defiant, they found the 
protection of the government was a total failure. 

As Gomez marched, the smoke of burning cane dark- 
ened the air and signaled far and wide that the tide of 
war rolled steadily west. Campos turned his columns 
from place to place and called for more and more men, 
but fire in the cane did not spread so fast or far as the 
flames of the conflagration of the rebellion, and as in- 
dustry ceased, the men of labor took up arms, their 
machetes if nothing else, and horses and saddles and 
joined the army of destruction and liberation. 

The Spaniards hoped to check the advance of the 
destroyers in Santa Clara and failed, and then in Ma- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 305 

tanzas and failed again; and there was a wild, vain 
rush to protect the province of Havana. Still the fire 
reddening- and the smoke obscuring the indigo sky 
of Cuba, the pillars of flame and the pillars of cloud, 
told the march of the liberators moved ever west- 
ward and invaded the province never before disturbed 
beyond Havana, where the tobacco stalks yield leaves 
of gold ; and on the tobacco, as on the sugar lands, the 
insurgent armies were recruited, and productive Cuba 
ceased; and the dreadful character of the war was 
developed. 

Campos strove to gain for the cause of which he was 
the leader, the good will of civilization, and was met 
by the command that he should use the same weapons 
the rebels did, and make the warfare one of savagry, 
but the proportions of the insurrection were so vast that 
the inadequacy of the recommendation was obvious 
except to those whose vision was perverted by passion. 
The Spanish, not obtaining decisive victories, demanded 
severities, and as shouts of triumph were not warranted 
there were cries for vengeance, and Campos, beaten and 
discredited, retired. 

Then came Weyler as a terror, and was intimidated by 
his own reputation ; and, unable to resist importunity 
for assurances, made promises that were irredeemable, 
and he found his occupations at Havana so exacting 
and so many scenes of military action calling for super- 
vision, that he did not follow the example of his illus- 
trious predecessor and rush fitfully to the field, but he 
evolved the scheme of surrounding the enemy, which 
proved a failure as palpable as the other conception, of 
lines and fortifications that the insurgents could not 
pass from the Atlantic to the Caribbean Sea. 

C— 18 



306 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

As to these lines there is the most serious attempt 
of the Spaniards that has been made, to confine the 
daring- Maceo in the western province, where he has 
been for weeks alternately dodging the Spaniards and 
charging them, fighting for ammunition, and foraging 
in a country that has become so war wasted that liv- 
ing on it is very precarious. The Spaniards seem to 
have given up attempts to defend property, and to have 
adopted in a modified degree the tactics of the Cubans. 
The Cuban theory has been for a year that in order to 
liberate the Island it must be laid in ashes and, in an 
agricultural and commercial sense, completely ruined. 
They have believed the Spaniards would themselves be- 
come so impoverished by the extinction of the resources 
in the Island and the enormous expenses of their ex- 
ertions in keeping a force of nearly two hundred thou- 
sand men engaged by land and sea, that their aggres- 
siveness at least would be extinguished by exhaustion. 

The most intelligenf Spaniards must be aware that 
the Island is lost to them in the sense that it can no 
longer be profitable to them ; and there is in the reports 
from the scattered scenes of the customary circum- 
stances, that the Spaniards are becoming fiercely dis- 
posed to destroy the villages and plantations the rebels 
have spared, and to slaughter remorselessly the people 
who have sought to evade participation in the war. 
The design behind this is that the country shall be re- 
duced to such a state of indigence that the rebels 
cannot find food, and must disband or become so di- 
vided as to be unable to cope with Spanish battal- 
ions. Certainly the game of desolating a land is one 
that two can play at, and both parties in Cuba seem to 
be playing it. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY 307 

All the world now knows the rebel war operations 
are an answer to the Spanish political economy that 
confines the industries of the Cubans to the two great 
specialties of sugar. and tobacco, forcing Cuba to take 
"Spanish manufactures and refusing fair reciprocity for 
Cub^T^ products. No more intolerable tyranny than 
is involved in this policy can be conceived. The 
Cubans have destroyed the sugar and tobacco crops, 
and strike Spain through her revenues and manufac- 
tures. In order to do this the insurgents have to keep 
moving", "and operate without bases, depots or hospitals 
or objective points. This is, indeed, the only system 
of war permitted in Cuba, surrounded as she is by the 
sea, in possession of Spain, and trampled by an army 
that amounts to one man in eight of the whole native 
population of the Island, white, black and mixed. 

Weyler ordered the country stores emptied, and that 
the people should concentrate themselves in the towns ; 
but, forced to do this, they must be assisted to food or 
starve, and they are starving. The great body of the 
'country is therefore given up to the insurgents, among" 
whom as a vital matter there is rigorous discipline. 
The Spaniards, who ^ claim to understand and abide 
by the honor of arms, become insane in combat, and 
revengeful as they are successful ; and a wide mar- 
gin is left for the totally depraved bandits, who stop at 
no Crime and kill alike and are impartially killed by 
Spaniards and Cubans. 

The effect of the marching to and fro of Gomez and 
Maceo, and the manoeuvres of the regular troops, and the 
reign of terror of the robbers, is to fearfully disorg-anize 
society. It is said in some countries in Europe that the 
men and horses go to the war, or at least to the army, 



308 THE STORY OF CUBA. . 

and the women and cows do the work. In Cuba there 
does not appear to be even the diversion of women and 
cows industrious in providing food, and the Spanish 
are aiding in the work of ruin they, could not quell or 
limit, believing that, at the same time, Spain is deprived 
of money, or any form of the fatness that has hitherto 
characterized Cuba, the Cubans will find themselves 
unable to get anything to eat, and must disband so far 
as to make no showing of an army, and they are acting 
on the principle that each Cuban killed stops a possible 
rebel recruit. 

There has been no precedent of such warfare as this 
in any civilized land, and there is a question whether, in 
the interests of humanity, there must not be interposi- 
tion to restrain the continuance^ of the horrible com- 
bat, which never was conducted with the usages of 
organized people, but is an endless system of skirmishes 
in ambuscades and, according to the combatants them- 
selves, lias largely lost the forms of civilization and 
become a competition of incendiaries and assassins. It 
is not they alone who take the sword that perish by the' 
sword, and make good the old word, but they who take 
the torch perish by the torch also, and the ghastly spectre 
of the yellow fever will soon waste at noonday and walk 
in darkness. There is already famine, and the fever — and 
we have the three horrors, war, pestilence, and famine ! 

There is reason for estimating carefully the probabil- 
ities, when reading the daily supply of " Outrages upon 
American Citizens" that are furnished to the country. 
The demand for this sort of thing is as continuous as the 
supply is copious, but the Spaniards, while excited 
and resentful towards Americans on account of their 
peculiar interest in Cuba, have sense enough not to be 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 309 

picking quarrels with the United States. There are, 
however, so many of our citizens engaged in the rebel- 
Hon, that it is only with much caution that encounters 
with them by the Spanish authorities can be avoided, 
and the Spaniards, it is to be presumed, are not unwill- 
ing to annoy our official representatives by dealing with 
citizens who use the name of America as a cloak, to 
cause embarrassing cases. 

It would relieve the American public of a good deal of 
anxiety and indignation to remember that the news by 
way of Key West and Tampa is manipulated in the 
insurgent interest just as fashionably as that of Ha- 
vana is in the Spanish interest. One could give both 
sides of a thousand stories of " battles " in the bushes 
without imparting any real information. As reported, 
with a manifest mixture of expressions and exaggera- 
tions, there is not a sensation in 500 fights, and history 
must deal with general results. ^ 

As the month of April closes, we hear little of Gomez 
compared with that which circulates about Maceo, and 
whether Maceo is in a desperate situation in the west 
end is uncertain. There is reason to believe, however, 
that he is hard-pressed, for other insurgent generals are 
not doing anything decisive for his relief, and the cap- 
tain-general is using all means of transportation to con- 
centrate, first, to prevent Maceo's retreat eastward, and 
second, to crush him. If the insurgents have the author- 
ity and resources and means of communication 'upon 
which they claim recognition for belligerency, and if 
they find the sea so open, they will make movements to 
occupy the Spanish army to a considerable extent 
remote from Maceo, and land for him canned meat and 
hard bread and cartridges. ^ 



3IO THE STORY OF CUBA. 

It is not by big- battles that the war will be decided. 
The pivotal questions are the public credit of Spain and 
the-food supplies of Cuba. Regarding famine, we do 
not believe there is fiction on the wires. The applica- 
tion of the intelligence about the dread calamity is not, 
as it is comprehended, so partizan as to demand per- 
versity of patriotism. Here is a Havana despatch of 
April 2oth, saying, " Reports come from all parts of the 
Island of much distress, resulting from the concentra- 
tion of the population in the cities and the desertion of 
the fields." A letter from Cartagena states that the 
people are in a terrible condition. There is no work for 
men, and little food. In Trinidad fish sells for thirty 
cents a pound, and meat has increased two and a half 
cents a pound. In Sancti Spiritus charcoal, formerly 
forty cents, is now $1.40. All food has advanced 
equally in price. In Sitio Grande many families are 
living in tents erected in the middle of the streets." 

Another despatch from the same place, of the same 
date, reads: "The situation in Cuba is heartrending; 
the poverty is appalling ; famine stalks through this 
naked, desolate land. The bread question will pres- 
ently become as important as the political question. 
Preparations for relieving the sufferings of the non- 
combatants must soon be made. Women and children 
from the interior continue to flee to the United States 
on every steamer. The benevolence of Americans will 
soon be tested, or thousands will starve, for everything 
is being put to the torch." 

Thousands of people are in the woods to evade Wey- 
ler's ordei- to concentrate in the towns. Both sides 
are dealing violently with the country people. A letter 
from Sancti Spiritus says : " It is dreadful to think of the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 31I 

effects of the concentration. It means the death of 
many famihes. We have no houses or food for them. 
The people try to evade the general's order. The Span- 
ish troops have strict orders to burn every house, 
whether occupied or not. In the districts of Macaya- 
beos and Yayabo, all the houses have already been 
burned by the Spanish columns, and the inhabitants 
have been forced to come into the towns, or meet 
starvation." 

The accounts of the estates burned by the insurgents, 
with immense quantities of cane, the houses, the planta- 
tion property of every kind, are appalling, and, with the 
Spaniards engaged in like work, the speedy reduction 
of the Island to a desert, visited with every calamity 
that scourges mankind, is certain. 

• Thus far, every shape of general misfortune and dis- 
tress aids to swell the ranks of insurgents. The Weyler 
order for concentration in villages is declared to have 
thrown thousands of desperate men into the ranks of 
Gomez in the east end. Driven from their homes, they 
prefer to go to the army rather than to the garrisoned 
towns, and the women have been following them, being 
homeless, and feeling safer in the camps, than in their 
houses without the protection of husbands, brothers, 
and sons, all gone into the army. This women move- 
ment, however, cannot be general, for they cannot take 
the children to the army, and so they live in privation 
and terror, and have places where they hide from the 
raging savages that have become the beasts of prey. 



312 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE PICTURESQUE IN THE WAR. 

The Camps of the Rebels and the Palace of the Governor-General — 
Howthe Wounded Cubans are Cared for — The Inside of the Rebel- 
lion in the Woods, and the Secret Doors of the Palace — The Cuban 
Women in the War, and an American Woman Interviews the Re- 
doubtable Weyler, and He Shows Photographs of His Family, and 
Gives Her Flowers. 

Grover Flint's pen-sketch of a camp of Cubans is a 
fine picture, full of touches that tell of truthfulness. He 
was writing- from a real insurgent retreat, and as he 
wrote, the swarthy guards, with the silver star on their 
hats and rifles in their hands, were duly vigilant. He 
says : 

"Camp Sabanas, near Sagua, April i. — This is a real 
insurgent camp. About me, as I write, are standing 
its swarthy guards, with the silver star on their hat 
rims and rifles in their hands. It is a permanent camp, 
with a little hospital. Dr. Francisco Domingues, of 
Havana, is stationed here as a special agent of General 
Maximo Gomez, not only to attend to the wounded, 
but to forward despatches to the chiefs of insurgent 
divisions throughout the Matanzas province. 

"The camp lies in a forest among the foothills that 
rise from either side of the valley, reaching from the 
coast to the interior of the Island. High mountains and 
swamps, green with rushes and cane, protect it on all 
sides but one. On this side a narrow trail zigzags for 
a league in the woods, barely missing morasses and pit- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 315 

falls. Twenty well armed men could hold that trail 
against a regiment. 

" The camp itself is tropical and picturesque. It is a 
plateau, thickly overgrown with stunted trees and tow- 
ering palms, reached by little patlis cut with the 
machete. 

"The insurgents live in small huts or wickyups, ' jack- 
als ' they call them here, built of boughs and saplings, 
and thatched with palm leaves. Rebels against Spain 
must sleep in hammocks, for the ground sweats in the 
Cuban jungle, and white men cannot sleep on it and 
live. 

"At night strange birds sing. Queer animals, like 
overgrown rats, look at you from the trees, and great 
land crabs scurry into their holes at your approach. 
Horses are tethered about everywhere, and stand 
unsheltered, rain or shine. They are fed on rushes, or 
colla, for no other grain is to be had, and a sorebacked, 
sorry lot they are, though tough and tireless as our own 
bronchos. 

"The camp guard consists of fifty men, exclusive of 
negro camp servants, armed only with machetes. Major 
Juan Jose Andarje, a strong, handsome young Cuban, 
is in command, with a captain, a sergeant, and four 
corporals. Guards and patrols watch the trail leading 
from the valley, and no one is allowed to leave without 
a pass from the commander. Squads of men ride 
through the country at night in search of ' plateados ' 
— those bloodthirsty robbers who were the terror of the 
country early in the war, but who have been almost 
suppressed by the insurgents. When the plateado is 
caught, he is brought to camp and hanged to the near- 
est tree. 



3l6 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

" It is odd to find soldiers with camp servants to fetch 
water, cut wood and perform the acts of personal ser- 
vice ; but the men are active and quick to take the sad- 
dle on sudden alarm, as I have seen on several occa- 
sions since my arrival. The life is like that of Marion's 
men in our American Revolution for simplicity. No 
coffee, no bread, heated sugar and water at daybreak, 
sweet potatoes and stewed beef at noon, and stewed 
beef and sweet potatoes at night. Beans and rice are 
luxuries. Sugar cane, sweet and nutritious, does for 
bread. We eat with our fingers and knives down here, 
with bits of palm bark for plates. Food is plentiful or 
scarce, according to the country and to circumstances. 
That there is no scarcity now is proof that the sympa- 
thy of the native population is with the insurrection, 

"No man is so poor that he cannot cheerfully give 
food for the army. This proves also the truth of the 
saying here that the Spaniard owns only the ground he 
stands on. The news of every movement of the Span- 
iards is quickly reported. 

" I find these people capable of any sacrifice for the 
cause. In the interior, inhabitants of the villages will 
burn their towns on the approach of a Spanish column, 
so that they may not afford the troops shelter, and 
points whence expeditions may be sent through the 
country. I also find that whenever the insurectos ride 
with their red, white and blue cockades, the people are 
glad to see them. The girls stand in the doorway and 
wave their hands, and the small boys look on them 
with admiration. On the other hand, the news of the 
approach of Spanish troops will throw a community 
into a panic. 

" I can now, from the insurgents I have seen and 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 317 

lived with, contradict the absurd and pitiful misstate- 
ments of the Spanish press and Spanish minister at 
Washington, that the insurgent ranks are composed of 
bandits, whose only aim is to kill and burn. I find my- 
self among men courteous and well bred, proprietors of 
plantations for the most part, or sons of such proprie- 
tors, and evidently accustomed to a comfortable mode 
of life. These remain in the field, half-fed, inadequately 
armed and badly equipped, certain only of ignominious 
death in case of capture. They receive no pay and 
are earnest, patriotic and self-sacrificing. They obey 
the officers implicitly and do their duty without com- 
plaint. Moreover, you do not hear of a single authenti- 
cated case of robbery or violence of any kind done by 
them. The vicious, cowardly atrocities penetrated on 
defenseless men, women and children are the work of 
Spanish troops. 

•" The victims of these are rarely important enough to 
attract special attention, but the massacre continues in 
every part of the Island. I am told that this state of 
affairs was unknown at the time of Martinez Campos. 

"To-day I talked with Jose Ballete y Sirea, proprietor 
of a little plantation near Recreo. Two weeks ago his six- 
teen-year-old son was seen by some Spanish guerillas 
exchanging words with a passing party of insurgents. 

" After the rebels had passed, the guerillas came from 
their hiding place, arrested the lad and took him before 
the alcalde of Recreo as a suspect. The alcalde dis- 
missed the case and ordered the guerillas to take the 
boy home. As soon as they were clear of the town the 
guerillas cut the boy to pieces with matchetes, and left 
the mutilated body in a field, where it was found six 
days later by the parents. Then the father put a star 



3l8 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

and a ribbon on his hat and joined the rebels in the 
woods." 

Kate Masterson, writing from Havana, after hearing 
from the- Cuban women, with a woman's sympathy, 
the startHng stories of their confidences, gives this ro- 
mantic history of woman's part in the war : 

" From this beautiful summer land one cry goes up 
which is heard over the din of battle an^ the clash of 
arms. It is the wail of the desolate Cuban women. 
They are mourning for their loved ones, and their tears 
are falling upon new-made graves throughout the Island. 

"Their soft eyes have looked upon ghastly bonfires 
in which the bodies of their babies have been the fuel 
that fed the flames. Their cry is more eloquent than 
all the ruin and desolation of this beautiful land of 
graves. The cane fields, sending their columns of 
flame and smoke across the stars like signal fires to the 
American nation, are not so imperative as all this woman 
love going up to Heaven in a tortured cry for help. 

"Like the Easter lilies of Cuba, bent and stained 
with patriot blood, and the roses trampled in the earth 
and drenched wjth mire, are the hearts of these poor 
women. They are suffering, bleeding and breaking ; 
yet they still have courage, and trust that God will 
send aid from America and liberty to Cuba. 

"It is for the women and the childrerb. that these 
men are fighting who are so bravely holding the Island 
in the face of an army, more than three times bigger in 
numbers than they ; half naked as they are, their 
bodies torn from the underbrush through which they 
walk, often with only one cartridge apiece to face a 
well-provided foe, they are fighting with a spirit which 
once moved the American army of the revolution. 



X 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 319 

"The women of Cuba are the mothers of this most 
human revolution. They do not fear death. They 
would gladly die for Cuba, but their cheeks grow 
white at the thought of the atrocities and crimes which 
the Spanish soldiers employ toward the helpless. ' So 
strong is this fear, that many of the women have 
accompanied their husbands to the fields, remembering 
the crimes of the late war against their sex. Men have 
hesitated to leave their wives and daughters unpro- 
tected at home, and there are over a hundred women 
u\ider Maceo and many under General Gomez as well. 

" Many women are nursing the sick and the wounded. 
Some are fio^htinof shoulder to shoulder with the men. 
They do not fear death one-half so much as the horrors 
which might await them at their homes. Their children 
are born upon the battlefield. It was thus in the last war 
also. Is it a wonder, then, that the Cubans are patriots ? 

" It is one great feature of this revolution that not 
only the women, but the children, are fighting with the 
army. There is a list of child martyrs, baby patriots. 
The Spanish ai^thorities, with their usual cheap acute- 
ness, have endeavored to make capital from the fact 
that there are women in the field with the Cuban army, 
and have spread the report that they are ' Amazons,' 
describing them as rough, masculine creatures, devoid 
of gentleaess and modesty. This is one of the favorite 
lies which they are so fond of quoting. The Cuban 
women are the most feminine and simple women in 
the world. They are almost childish in their love for 
prettiness and charm. They adore their children and 
worship their husbands. But their gentleness has turned 
to bitterness in many of their hearts through the sor- 
rows that have been inflicted upon them. 



320 " THE STORY OF CUBA. 

"Besides the women who are with the army, there 
are any number of women in Havana to-day who are 
anxious to join them. They know only too well that 
should the Cubans attack Havana, the vengeance of the 
Spaniards would be directed to them. I have visited 
them in their homes in Havana and outside of the lim- 
its placed by war. I have spoken with them and have 
been thrilled with their courage and patriotism. I 
know that American women are patriotic, but these 
Cuban women are fierce in their patriotism, and wish to 
take arms against the enemy who has despoiled their 
homes and killed their relatives. They are the ' insur- 
rectes' heart and soul, the moving spirit of the revolu- 
tion. To-day Maximo Gomez carries over his heart a 
silken Cuban flag which he has sworn that he will never 
unfurl until it floats over Moro Castle. 

" Many of the Cuban women have lost all they pos- 
sessed through this war. Their plantations have been 
burned and their fortunes swept away, but I heard 
none complain. They are willing to give everything 
for Cuba, and they see their sugar cane go up in smoke, 
glad that thereby its revenue will be lost to Spain. 
Some of these women sold their jewels when their 
money was gone, in order to send medicines and lint to 
the rebels. In every Cuban home, also, a sum is set 
aside out of each day's household money to send to 
the field. 

" There are pathetic and moving incidents without 
number connected with this war in which women play 
the first part. Many of them lie in unmarked graves 
to-day, but their names will live in Cuban history for- 
ever. An old lady of eighty, whom I visited at her 
home a few miles out of Havana, showed me an 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 321 

American flag which she has kept carefully for years 
folded away in camphor, She told me in Spanish that 
she was keeping it to drape over her balcony when the 
American troops marched through the streets of Havana. 

" One of the most dramatic incidents of the war was 
a marriage ceremony performed at dawn in the moun- 
tains of Puerto Principe. Robau, a handsome and well 
educated young man, whose father owns a large plan- 
tation ai: Puerto Principe, enlisted as a private with 
General Gomez when the war broke out. He has 
fought bravely from the beginning until now, and was 
made lieutenant, then first lieutenant, captain, and then 
major. He recruited his regiment from his own neigh- 
borhood, and it is now composed entirely of his friends, 
all finely bred young men. 

" Robau was in love with a young girl who was a na- 
tive of a small village near his father's estate. She was 
in humbler circumstances than he, and the rigid rules of 
Cuban etiquette kept them apart. But when the young 
man first marched through the town with his splendid 
company of men, their horses' bridles were braided with 
ribbons and they wore wreaths of palm leaves about 
their hats in her honor. They passed the girl's home, 
and saluted her as she stood on the balcony with her 
mother. 

" Robau went in and asked that he might marry the 
girl then and take her with him, as he feared that evil 
might befall her in his absence. But his sweetheart's 
parents objected, and finally Robau yielded to their 
wishes, and marched away broken hearted. Two days 
later, when he had gone many miles, the girl dashed to 
his side, mounted on a horse. She had run away from 
her home in order that she might be with her lover. 



322 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

" That night Robau sent a guard of two men, with an 
extra horse and an empty saddle, to the house of a 
padre near by. The good priest mounted and rode 
along between the two men, muttering prayers, for he 
expected, despite the assurances of his escorts, that he 
was to be killed. They reached the hills where the 
regiment had halted, and just as dawn broke from the 
east the young people were married. They are now 
at Santa Clara, where Robau is in command of 400 
men, operating with Seraphine Sanchez and his band of, 
4,000. 

" One of the notable women of this revolution 
is Rosa Hernandez, the wife of Dr. Hernandez, of San 
Cristobel. She is now in the field with her husband, 
under General Maceo, taking active part in the fighting. 
She is young and beautiful, and had only been married 
a year when her husband had been called upon to or- 
ganize a band of men. He came to his young wife, 
who was soon to be a mother, and told her that he 
would do just as she willed, for he felt that his life be- 
longed to her. She answered him that she wished he 
should go to the war. In a week he had raised a band 
of 500 men — half a regiment — and, as they marched 
out of the town, they saluted Mrs. Hernandez, passing 
her house, shouting ' Viva la Reine Cuba ! ' 

" When her husband had been gone about three 
weeks, the Spaniards took possession of the town under 
General Carnellos. One of the lieutenants rode into 
Hernandez's home on horseback, and subjected her to 
threats and insults. As soon as he had left, she got a 
horse and joined her husband, riding many miles 
through the Cuban hills until she found him. 

" The women of San Juan Martinez have also taken 







CUBANS FIGIITIXG FROM TREE TOI'S 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 325 

a great part in the rebellion. When the Spanish troops^ 
under Cornell, were on their way to the city, the people 
met and took a vote as to what course they should pur- 
sue, the women casting ballots with the men. They 
decided to burn their city rather than to have the Span- 
ish soldiers destroy it. They took their children in 
their arms and turned their faces toward Guane, walk- 
ing all the way, as they had given their horses to the 
Cuban soldiers. Before they left, the women set their 
homes on fire, and when the Spaniards reached the 
place at midnight, they found the city in flames. When 
the people of Martinez reached Guane they found that 
the baffled soldiers were still on their track, and they 
burned Guane, as they had their own city, the women 
putting the torch to the houses. They afterward burned 
Montezeula in a similar manner, cutting off the Span- 
iards effectually. The path of these women and their 
babies was marked by fire until they reached the pro- 
tection of the insurgent army. 

" On the 7th of January last, the rebel forces, under 
Perico Delgado, burned the settlement of Cayajabos, 
Pinar del Rio. A rebel soldier was carrying an oil lamp 
to bedaub the walls of a house. Miss Regla Quevedo, 
a graceful young lady, ran toward the revolutionist and 
grabbed his arm, at the same time exclaiming : ' You 
must not do that to this house, as it belongs to a 
Cuban ; come with me and oil this other one, which I 
myself want to set on fire ; it belongs to a man who 
hates us.' 

" It was a Spaniard's house, an officer of the volun- 
teers. 

"Mrs. Louisa Hernandez, the wife of Damian Pere- 
soto, a political exile in the Isle of Pines, accompanied 

C— 19 



326 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

her husband in his exile, that she might Hberate him. 
When he was working with eleven others cutting wood, 
she began to talk with the padrone who had charge of 
them, so as to get familiar with him, and in one of their 
talks she seized the guard's gun on pretense of exam- 
ining it. Suddenly she leaped backward, and, pointing 
the gun at the guard, threatened him with instant death 
if he moved. Then taking the guard's machete, her 
husband and his comrades tied the unfortunate man 
and fled toward the coast. 

" On reaching the coast they compelled the captain of 
the schooner Margarita to set sail for Cienega de Za- 
pata, which they reached in safety. The twelve fugi- 
tives made their way to Cuba and joined the revolu- 
tionary forces. Mrs. Hernandez is still at Zapata, where 
she acts as nurse in a hospital. 

" In the Cuban regiment under Colonel Antonio 
Nunez there are two young and pretty women, wives 
of two rebel chiefs. They travel well armed and ride 
two very fine horses. January 7, when the forces which 
they accompany stopped a passenger train at St. Cri- 
tobal Station, Pinar del Rio province, the two young 
women were the ones to quiet some of the passengers 
who were frightened, and as some of the passengers 
were astonished at seeing them armed, they answered : 
' The country needs arms which can carry those arms 
that she needs for her defense, and does not make any 
distinction whether they be those of men or women. 
All of them are the same, with the proviso that their 
owner should be courageous and have determination.' 

" When the insurrectionists, under Edward Garcia and 
Rafail Cardenas, invaded the settlement of Sabanilla del 
Comendador, the majority of the women residents 



HER STRUGGLES EOR LIBERTY. 327 

joined them, receiving them with cheers and cries of 
' Cuba libre ! ' The garrison of the town before surren- 
dering defended itself, and during the fight some of the 
women employed themselves in setting fire to the set- 
tlement while others gathered up the wounded and 
others were getting arms from the rebels, so as to fire 
themselves. 

" With the forces of Calixto Alvarez there are eleven 
women, colored, wives of eastern chiefs, who have 
abandoned their small farms in St. Jago de Cuba, to 
follow their husbands' lot. These women busy them- 
selves in gathering up the wounded that fall during the 
fights and succoring them. All of them carry machetes 
and revolvers. 

" Christina Lazo, a daughter of Cuba, was imprisoned 
by reason of her separatist propaganda, and was locked 
up in the Jarneo prison. On the 19th of February, the 
forces under Maceo invaded the place and liberated the 
prisoners. Christina burned the prison, made a speech 
to the townspeople to prevail on them to join the rebels, 
and then marched away with the Cuban troops." 

To what extent the Cuban ladies unconciously exagger- 
ate the number of their sisters who are fighting for free- 
dom, is not known, but that they are, in their excitement, 
inaccurate we may safely assume. No doubt many sin- 
cerely wish to fight, but cannot get the chance. The Cu; 
ban ladies are not advanced in the modern woman sense, 
and Mrs. Masterson has faithfully portrayed them. There 
is no question that some of them are with the armies. 
They can be of greater actual service in the hospitals; 
but, unhappily, the wounded cannot receive the care they 
should have. Mr. Rappleye said, in one of his early let- 
ters: "There are four women with Gomez. They are 



328 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

white women, one of them an American. They are the 
wives of some of his officers. They are dressed in mas- 
cuUne attire, as a pair of bloomers have never been 
landed in the island of Cuba. They ride horseback 
with Gomez's staff, and each carries a Mauser rifle and 
ammunition. They have taken part in several engage- 
ments, and so far they have escaped being wounded." 

Here the number bf- Amazons is understated as to the 
time covered, and they have had reinforcements. The 
Spaniards not only admit the presence of the Cuban 
women with the insurgent forces, but assert it with 
ung^,nerous imputations. The Spaniard cannot, as a 
matter of patriotism, do justice to the discipline of the 
Cuban soldier — much less to his bravery and his mer- 
cies — and they should read, mark, and inwardly digest 
this testimony, which is given in a letter by t|ie presi- 
dent of the Stanford University, California — 

San Francisco, April 26. — President Starr Jordan, of Leland Stanford, 
Jr., University, writes to the San Francisco Call as follows: 

Palo Alto, Cal., April 25. — Some time ago I wrote to a friend in 
Havana, a gentleman of Spanish descent and education, an author well 
known in Havana, and withal a very trustworthy man, asking him to tell 
me what the real feeling of the intelligent classes of Havana was in re- 
gard to the present insurrection. I inclose herewith a translation of a letter 
ifeceiVed from him. It seems to show thkt this rebellion is not a mere 
bandit outbreak of negroes and jailbirds, but the effort of the whole 
people to throw off the yoke of a government they find intolerable. 

Havana, April 17, 1896. 
Dr. David S. Jordan, Palo Alto, Cal. 

Dear Sir: It is to be regretted that, as you say, those of you who 
are interested in the fate of this country have not a perfect knowledge of 
its true present state. Great ruin and much blood must be shed to attain 
what now seems likely to be attained, but it is never too late for the good. 
I can give you an idea of what the really intelligent Cubans think of the 



HER STRUGGLES EOR LIBERTY. 329 

present movement. I have heard the opinions of the most distinguished 
persons of the city, persons who, by education and from a sense of honor, 
are incapable of falsehood. They have given testimony, one by one, 
each without knowledge before and after of what the other has said. It 
seems to me, therefore, that I can reply to your inquiries with authority. 

1. The insurrection was begun and is kept up by Cuban people. 

2. The Government has made colossal and unheard-of efforts to put it 
down, bringing against it a force of 150,000 armed men and resorting to 
all possible measures of prudence and resource, but has not succeeded 
in diminishing it. It has extended from the extreme east to the extreme 
west, and is everywhere maintained. 

3. The flower of our youth is in the army of the insurrection. In its 
ranks are many physicians, lawyers, druggists, professors, artists, men 
of business, engineers, et al. By the excellent consular service of the 
United States this fact may be proved if it is not already known. 

4. The insurgents began by destroying their own property, in order to 
deprive the troops of the government of shelter and sustenance. 

5. Destruction is carried on by both sides; by the insurgents on the 
much greater scale. 

6. Let it be understood that the insurgents will continue in their course 
until they fulfil their purpose, carrying all before them by fire and 
blood. 

7. All eyes are directed toward the north, to the republic, which is 
the mother of all Americans. 

8. The people of the United States must bear strongly in mind now 
as never before, that profession is null and void if action does not confirm 
it. Men like yourself know this best of all. 

The man most abhorred of all in the world by the 
women of Cuba is Captain-General Weyler, and the 
only American woman who has interviewed him is the 
same who has written with so much warmth and o-race 
of the Cubans of her sex, and whose romantic sketch of 
the heroines in the army we have largely reproduced. 

Now, Weyler is a very accessible captain-general, a 
diplomat in conversation, and of various manners from 
the sharpest business tones and language, and the most 
peremptory questions to the gracious and the gallant. 



33^^ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Mrs. Masterson describes Weyler as advancing to meet 
her with a clasp of his firm, finely-shaped, cold hand, 
and quick, magnetic voice ! He wore a black alpaca of- 
fice coat, and his linen was spotless, and about his 
waist, over his vest, was a sash of red silk, and the 
great strength of his face, and massive build of his 
shoulders were what first impressed themselves upon 
his caller, who saw that " his eyes are bright and are 
the color of sherry with ice in it. Otherwise they have 
a naughty little twinkle." 

The interview proceeded as follows, under the usual 
common consent that it was not an interview, a little 
finesse of the exalted officials in many lands. 

"Your Excellency," I said, through my interpreter, 
" the American women have a very bad opinion of you. 
I am very much afraid of you myself, but I have come 
to ask the honor of an interview with you, in order that 
I may write something which will reassure the women 
of America that you are not treating women and chil- 
dren unmercifully." 

The general smiled. 

" I do not give interviews," he said. " I am willing, 
however, to answer any question you wish to ask." 

So it was with this understanding that we conversed. 
The general has allowed me to have the conversation 
published. 

" In the United States," I said, " an impression pre- 
vails that your edict shutting out newspaper corre- 
spondents from the field is only to conceal cruelties 
perpetrated upon the insurgent prisoners. Will your 
Excellency tell me the real cause ?" 

" I have," replied the general, " shut out the Spanish 
and Cuban papers from the field, as well as the Ameri- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 331 

cans. In the last war the correspondents created much 
jealousy by what they wrote. They praised one and 
rebuked the other. They wrote what their passions 
dictated instead of facts. They even created ill feeling 
between the Spanish officers. They are a nuisance." 

" Then I can deny the stories that have been pub- 
lished as to your being cruel ? " 

The general shrugged his heavy shoulders as he said, 
carelessly : 

" I have no time to pay attention to stories. Some of 
them are true, and some are not. If you will particu- 
larize, I will give direct answers ; but these things are 
not important." 

" Does not your Excellency think that prisoners of 
war should be treated with consideration and mercy ? " 

The general's eyes glinted dangerously. 

" The Spanish columns attend to their prisoners just 
as well as any other country in times of war," he re- 
plied. " War is war. You cannot make it otherwise, try 
as you will." 

" Will not your Excellency allow me to go to the 
scene of battle, under an escort of soldiers if necessary, 
that I may write of the fighting as it really is, and correct 
the impression that prevails in America, that inhuman 
treatment is being accorded the insurgent prisoners ? " 

"Impossible," answered the general, " it would not 
be safe." 

"I am willing to take all the danger, if your Excel- 
lency will allow me to go," I exclaimed. 

General Weyler laughed. "There would be no dan- 
ger from the rebels," he said, " but from the Spanish 
soldiers. They are of a very affectionate disposition, 
and would all fall in love with you." 



332 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

" I will keep a great distance from the fighting if you 
will allow me to go." 

The general's lips closed tightly, and he said : 

" Impossible ! Impossible ! " 

"What would happen," I asked, " if I should be dis- 
covered crossing the lines without permission ? " 

" You would be treated just the same as a man." 

"Would I be sent to Castle Moro ?" 

" Yes." He nodded his head vigorously. 

That settled it. I decided not to go. 

" It is reported," I said, " that thirty women are fight- 
ing under General Maceo. Is this true?" 

"Yes," replied the General. " We took one woman 
yesterday. She was dressed in man's clothes, and was 
wielding a machete. She is now in Moro Castle. 
These women are fiercer than the men. Many of them 
are mulattos. This particular woman was white." 

" Do you not think that the life of a newspaper corre- 
spondent in Havana is at present a most unhappy one ? " 

"I think it must be; for they make me unhappy. If 
they were all like you it would be a pleasure." 

" Do you not think the machete a most dangerous 
implement of war ? " 

" No. It is simply something to fight with. A man 
fights with a stick, a gun or a sword. It is not so cruel 
as a sword." 

" Is it true that thumb-screws are used to extort con- 
fessions from prisoners ? " 

" Not by the Spaniards. Rebels use all these things 
similar to those that were used in the Inquisition tor- 
tures." 

" Do you not think that Maceo and Gomez have 
shown good generalship ?" 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 335 

"No. Maceo is a mulatto. He has had no military 
instruction. Gomez fought under me at Santo Dom- 
ingo. He was a captain and I was a colonel." 

" Was he not a brave soldier ?" 

" No ; he never distinguished himself in any way." 

" Does not your Excellency think the Cuban women 
very pretty ? " and the General smiled approvingly yes. 

" Yes, beautiful," he said. 

" And the American women, what do you think of 
them ? " he was asked. 

" If you, senorita, are a fair sample, then I think them 
adorable," and the General bowed with his hand upon 
his heart. 

" Would you not like to see the palace ? " he said. 

Then General Weyler led the way into the throne 
room, which was just off the audience chamber. It is 
a long, stately, high-ceilinged apartment, curtained in 
brilliant red velvet. The floors are of white tiled marble, 
and the walls of red brocade outlined with gold. The 
throne itself is on a raised dais at the end of the room, 
right under a portrait of King Alfonso. 

There seemed to be no outlet to this apartment, but 
the general placed his hand upon the wall, near the 
throne, and almost like magic a panel door opened, 
which the general held until I had passed through. 

" This is my bedroom," he said. It was a beautiful 
room. The big brass bed was canopied in fine lace and 
soft, white monogrammed linen showing through. The 
chairs were of cane, and a couch was drawn near the 
window, where flowers were blooming. A cut-glass 
liquor set was on a small table, and books were upon a 
shelf near the bed. 

" Step in here," said the general, and he opened an- 



33^ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

other of those secret doors in the wall, and we were in 
the enclosed balcony. The general pushed open one of 
the blinds, and the palace garden was before us, a delight- 
ful breeze coming through the wavy palm trees that 
lined the walk. 

The sitting-room opens off the bedroom. It is daint- 
ily furnished. A dressing table draped with lace bears 
silver toilet implements and many photographs. A 
broad table near the window is furnished with writing 
materials of silver. 

General Weyler drew aside the lace that hung before 
the window, and pointed to the sea. 

" Is it not beautiful ? " he said. 

"This room is like a lady's boudoir," I exclaimed. 
" Has not your Excellency a wife and daughters who 
might enjoy all this with you?" 

He went to the dressing case and picked up a large 
photograph of a beautiful young girl with black hair 
and large serious eyes. Across the corner was written 
in Spanish: " To my father," with an affectionate senti- 
ment inscribed beneath. 

" She died five months ago," he said. Then he 
handed me another picture, that of a bright, sweet- 
faced girl. " She speaks English," he said. 

Then came the picture of a boy, resembling the gen- 
eral across the forehead and eyes. " Has he not a 
good German face?" he asked, proudly. After this he 
handed me a card upon which the faces of his smaller 
children were pictured, the heads close together. "These 
are my babies," said the general. 

"Now I must show you my bathroom," he continued, 
and with pardonable pride he ushered me into a large 
room, the floor and walls of which were of pale blue 



HER STRVGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



zn 



marble There were Turkish towels everywhere in a 
beautiful profusion, which I had not before observed in 
Havana, and a cane couch had pillows, also covered 
with toweling. A velvet screen shut off the marble 
bath, but the general led me back of this so that he 
might show me the shower bath. The floor was 
indented beneath the shower, and the general stood at 
a safe distance and pulled the brass chain to show me 
how it worked. It was wonderful. 

" There is not such a beautiful bathroom in Havana," 
he exclaimed enthusiastically. 

Out of this room we walked into a spacious billiard 
room, the long windows filled with flowers. There was 
a fine table and a set of cues in a case upon the wall. 

" Do you play, general ?" I asked. 

"Yes, but I have no time now," he answered. He 
ushered me into a stately dining-room, white and cool 
and finely furnished. 

A long table was spread in the centre of the room 
and there were hundreds of roses upon it. They were 
in tall vases and in circles upon the white cloth. They 
filled the air with their fragrance. 

"Will you not accept these?" said the general, se- 
lecting some particularly fine ones from the largest 
cluster. 

" What color do you prefer ? " said he. Then he 
handed them to me with a bow, as I thanked him. 

" I shall be most happy if you will join me at dinner 
this evening," said he, "or, if not convenient, any other 
evening ; or to breakfast, if you prefer. Breakfast is at 
12 each day, and dinner at 8." 

I thanked the general for his courtesy, and he con- 
tinued: "You must not think it odd that I should 



33^8 THE. STORY OF CUBA. 

invite you. I know that American ladies can dine of 
breakfast with a gentleman without remark." 

I assured the general that I should be very much 
honored to accept his kind hospitality, and we passed, 
into a long room, half balcony and half windows. Upon 
the walls were wooden shields with various kinds of 
sabres fastened to them, the blades beaming in the 
sunlight. Upon one of them hung a wreath of laurels, 
tied with ribbons of red and yellow.. Upon the ribbons 
was written in letters of gold : 

"To the brave and illustrious Dan Valeriano Weyler, 
Cobernador-General de la Isla de Cuba." 

This historical penciling possesses unique value, be- 
cause it is by a woman and of a man whose position in 
the crisis of the conflict between the Spaniards and 
Cubans gives him the interest of exceptional importance. 

CONCERNING THE TROCHA. 

There has been general curiosity about the latest and, 
it is alleged, the most formidable of the trochas in 
Cuba, and the i7'<?r«/^^ explanation of the meaning of 
the word that is so much in the air adds to the public 
information. The Spanish place a reliance upon the 
trocha that is not supported by their experience, and the 
only advantage it seems to be to them is it offers a sug- 
gestion that they are aggressive when they are at a 
standstill, and so magnifies the office of inertia. The 
Hei^ald states the value of the Spanish military line from 
the standpoints of the combatants, and gives a sketch 
of its unreliability, saying that that particular mili- 
tary form of defense, known as a trocha, seems 
destined to play an extremely important part in the 
present rebellion in Cuba. The great length of the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 339 

Island — 700 miles from east to west — with an average 
width of only about sixty-five miles, undoubtedly sug- 
gested the idea of establishing military roads or trochas 
between points on the north and south coasts. The 
design of the trocha is to prevent the passage of the 
insurgent forces from one district to another. The 
strategic value of the line is doubted by many Spanish 
commanders. Among these is Captain-General Valma- 
ceda, who, after inspecting the work on the famous 
trocha between Jucara and Moron, remarked that for 
military purposes, even if it cost nothing to build and 
maintain, he would not accept it as a gift. Maximo 
Gomez, in the ten years' war, apparently demonstrated 
the soundness of Valmaceda's view by crossing the 
trocha seven times, once carrying with him his wife 
and children. The succeeding captain-generals of Cuba, 
however, including Campos and Weyler, have been 
wedded to the idea of a trocha as of great military utility. 
General Campos distributed nearly fifty thousand 
men along the Jucara and Moron trocha, hoping to keep 
Gomez from entering the province of Santa Clara. 
Forts were built along the line at every fifteen hundred 
yards, and communication was kept up between them. 
Trees and undergrowth were cleared away for two hun- 
dred yards, and every precaution was taken to intercept 
the insurgents. Nevertheless Gomez, with his compact 
column of twenty-two hundred men, not only safely 
crossed the trocha on October 29th last, but soon after- 
ward recrossed it into Camaguery and met Antonio 
Maceo. Together they conducted their combined 
forces again across this supposedly dangerous line, and 
began the campaign of the " Occident." Still General 
Campos did not abandon the idea of the trocha. 



340 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The insurgents swept on across Santa Clara, Matan- 
zas and Havana, and in a vain hope to prevent the rev- 
olution spreading into Pinar del Rio, General Campos 
established another " trocha of iron " between the cities 
of Havana and Batabano, on the south coast, a distance 
of only twenty-eight miles. It was something of a de- 
parture from the idea of the old trocha. Forts were, as 
usual, built along the line of railroad, but in addition to 
this, hundreds of freight cars were covered with boiler 
iron, with narrow openings for rifles, five feet from the 
floors, and these moving railroad forts were kept run- 
ning up and down the line day and night. After a care- 
ful inspection of this improved trocha, Gomez and 
Maceo, with their combined forces, crossed the " iron 
dead line " on the evening of January 4th, without firing 
a shot. 

After getting safely on the west side, Gomez re- 
marked that in compliment to General Campos, the 
constructor, or promoter, of the trocha, the insurgents 
ought to show some appreciation of his efforts. The 
rebel forces, therefore, rode back some distance and 
tore up about three miles of the track, as Gomez said, 
"Just to let the Spaniards know that we have noticed 
their toy." On January 7th Gomez recrossed this rail- 
road trocha, without accident, into Havana province, 
where he was joined by Maceo some weeks later. But 
Maceo seemed to have taken a liking to Pinar del 
Rio, and, instead of fulfilling the prophecy of Weyler 
by hiding himself in the swamp of the Big Shoe, he 
again swung his column to the westward through the 
province of Havana, again crossing the trocha into 
Pinar del Rio without deigning to notice its existence. 

An observer naturally asks, Where were the fifty 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 34 1 

thousand Spanish troops who were stationed along the 
line for the express purpose of preventing such rebel 
manoeuvres? 

The Spanish idiom, " Quien sabe ? " seems a very 
appropriate answer. 

Now General Weyler has taken a hand at trocha 
building. He has constructed a trocha from the town 
of Mariel, on the north coast of Pinar del Rio, twenty- 
five miles west of Havana, to Majona, on the south 
coast, a distance of only twenty-three miles, and on the 
success of this trocha preventing Maceo's supposed 
anxiety to reach Gomez, who, with fresh forces, is 
approaching from the east, General Weyler is said to 
stake his military reputation. 

Mr. Guerra, treasurer of the Cuban revolutionary 
party, and Agustin Agramonte, the nephew of the 
rebel president, Cisneros, were seen with reference to 
the probable effectiveness of this trocha of General 
Weyler. Mr. Guerra said : " Let no one entertain any 
anxiety in regard to the safety of Maceo. His instruc- 
tions from General Gomez were not only to enter Pinar 
del Rio, but to maintain the revolution in that province. 
If he crosses the trocha into Havana it will be only to 
convince General Weyler of the futility of the trocha 
idea." 

Mr. Agramonte thought the trocha an " excellent in- 
stitution for the Cubans." He continued : 

" This same favorite military hobby of the Spanish 
commanders is very liable to prove for them a trocha 
of death. Fifty thousand men cannot defend a line 
twenty-three miles long. It takes five thousand men 
five feet apart to cover a mile." 



342 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

AN IRREPRESSIBLE CONFLICT OF TESTIMONY. 

The Double-Entry Historical Bookkeeping of the Battles in Cuba — 
The Remarkable Characteristics of Discrepancy — The Havana and 
Key West Stories Discolored and Distorted Out of Recognition — 
— The Responsibility for Nickel Novel Cuban Reports — Dynamite 
and the Press — The War in the West End. 

There cannot be a consecutive history of the horrors 
of the warfare in Cuba. This time the whole Island is 
involved, and the coast and the interior, the cities 
and the country, are included in the calamity. There is 
a special activity in and about Havana, caused by 
the necessity of supplying the Spanish army, and the 
efforts of the Havana merchants, who have something 
to sell, to get it away from the Island that is vanishing 
in a vast catastrophe. 

One can tell by the sort of news the newspapers con- 
tain whether the accounts of the battles come by wire or 
by grapevine. For example, this is a typical Spanish 
story : 

Guadalajara battalion, while marching to San Miguel, met a party of 
600 rebels, commanded by Aguirre and Morejon. A fierce fight ensued, 
resulting, it is said, in the rebels being so thoroughly beaten that they 
fled demoralized from the field. The rebel loss was stated to have been 
sixty, including fourteen killed. The Spanish troops were reported to 
have lost one officer and three soldiers wounded. 

This is the Cuban interpretation : 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 343 

The affair was similar to others in which " Pacificos," or peaceful 
citizens, have been killed by Spanish troops. Fourteen of the dead are 
said to have been employees on estates, and not insurgents. On the 
Spanish side none were killed and only three wounded, while the Cuban 
dead exceeded thirty. Jaruco, the scene of this " combat," is only fifteen 
miles from Havana, on the Matanzas railroad. 

Here is a representative story of a war incident : 

Colonel Zubia reports that the troops under his command met a band 
of rebels on the San Jose estate, near Camajuani. A brisk fight followed, 
in which the rebels lost four killed. The insurgents retreated, but were 
followed by the troops, who again attacked them. The rebels made a 
stout resistance, but could not withstand the fire of the troops, and were 
compelled to retreat, leaving eleven dead on the field. The troops, 
according to the report, had only three wounded in both fights. 

Another of the same sort : 

While Colonel Pinto's command was reconnoitering on the Conchita 
estate, near Mariel, a rebel band, under Perico Delgardo, was encoun- 
tered. The insurgents occupied strong positions in the Rubi hills, but 
the troops dislodged them, and pursued them into the mountains. The 
loss of the insurgents is said to have been heavy. They left twelve dead 
on the field, and two men, who were wounded, died later. The troops 
had seven wounded. 

Details of the minor matters are marked by the views 
of those who bear the inteUigence, as are the outh'nes of 
large operations in this case, of a small one for example : 

Colonel Escudero, while reconnoitering in the Zapata swamp, des- 
troyed four rebel camps, and had several engagements with rebel bands, 
under the Socorros and Sanabria, killing four insurgents. 

And this the same : 

General Melquizo, at the Zaldiva farm, this province — Havana — 
has had a skirmish with the insurgent leader Castilla ; the latter left ten 
men killed, and retired with a number of wounded. 
C— 20 



344 ^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

The comment will be no Spaniard hurt in this case, 
and there is no mistaking the paternity of this : 

During recent engagements between the Spanish troops, under Gen- 
eral Fort, in the Havana province, and the insurgents, the latter admit 
having lost 82 killed and 157 wounded. 

Reports received here from Lacret's band of insurgents show a very 
demoralized condition of things. It is said that Lacret is frequently 
intoxicated, and that of twenty American members of an expedition from 
the United States, which recently joined him, five, have been killed and 
the rest are disgusted. They say they have been deceived, that this is no 
war, that there is no fighting, and that they are living in swamps without 
clothing, compelled to eat bad food, that the agreements entered into 
with them have not been carried out, and that they are without leaders. 

General Aguirre of the Cuban forces wrote recently : 

We are close to Havana, and on March 2 2d my forces raided Guana- 
taco, which is but five miles from the capital. Guanataco is the 
"Brooklyn of Havana," joined by ferry service, and has a population 

of 45.000- 

No difficulty was encountered by us in the assault, and we secured 60 
horses, 150 Remington rifles, 14,000 cartridges, and considerable cloth- 
ing and medicine. 

Only one of our men was wounded, but I have learned that the 
Spanish lost several soldiers. 

The following is the way one of Maceo's " battles " 
appeared after it reached Havana by a private convey- 
ance, and flashed through the secret channels to Tampa, 
from which it passed into American history : 

A combination of Spanish columns was attempted near Limonar, where 
Maceo was apparently intending to cross the line into Havana province. 
This also failed, for the reason that Colonel Tort, with the Almancea bat- 
talion, a newly arrived body of green recruits from Spain, who had never 
seen fighting, attempted to hold the vital point on the lines. Maceo's 
veterans swept down upon them, and broke through the combination with 
a fierce fight which fairly wiped out the Almancea battalion. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 345 

The Spanish retired in the direction of Limonar, carrying about loo 
wounded ; and, besides the nineteen dead they carried away, left seven 
on the field, whom the rebels buried. 

The functions of the telegraph operators in breaking 
up the Spanish combinations are sometimes candidly 
set forth as in this curious instance : 

Gen. Weyler's staff planned a manoeuver which would bring all the 
forces into conjunction surrounding Maceo's army at a point one mile 
from Colisea. The orders were sent by telegraph to Gens. Prat, 
Linares and Aldecoa, and Col. Hernandez, requiring them to make that 
place at 2 o'clock in the afternoon. The telegraph operator let the 
message go correctly to Gen. Prat, but changed the hour to 6 in the 
other messages ; and when Gen. Prat came upon Maceo he had about 
3,500 men and the rebels over 8,000 cavalry. Gen. Prat was forced to 
retreat with the column badly shattered. 

The Spaniards had another day of hard luck when at 

Cayojabos, the rebels took possession of the burned town for a camp. 
Gen. Linares, Col. Francis and Col. Inclan attacked them. Col. 
Frances arrived first. Gen. Linares and Col. Inclan heard cannonading 
and rifle fire and hurried on. The fight here lasted four hours, and the 
Spanish had four captains and seven lieutenants killed, the killed and 
wounded soldiers numbered nearly 300. The rebels captured 1,000 
rifles, and, on account of their strong position in the town, got through 
the day with about eighty losses, dead and wounded, as nearly as can 
be learned. 

Then we have something of another sort : 

Col. Hernandez reports having a fight with the rebel bands of Masso 
and Acea near San Felipe. The enemy occupied strong positions, but 
were attacked with great vigor by the troops, and finally fled, leaving 
seven dead on the field. The troops had five men wounded. 

Col. Moncada reports having had several engagements with rebel 
bands near Cienfuegos, in which the enemy had four men killed and 
seventy wounded, and the Spanish troops had five wounded. 



346 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Just five men wounded every time ! We all know 
the strange coincidences and persistent uniformities de- 
veloped in statistical tables. 

And again the Spaniards were slaughtered in the 
same part of the country : 

The troops of Gen. Linares had begun to arrive to assist Hernandez 
and Inclan. They brought cavalry and artillery. The Spanish forces 
were moving along the road which lies between Candelaria and Guan- 
ajay. It was raining in torrents. Suddenly the whole division found 
itself in an ambush ; 4,000 rebels were behind stone fences on both sides 
of the road, and as soon as the fighting began they closed in front and 
rear. There was fighting for two hours. The rebels used the ammuni- 
tion they had captured the day before. They captured two cannons 
and more ammunition and inflicted such losses upon the Spanish that 
a special train was sent out from Havana to bring in the dead and 
wounded. It was even given out at the palace that the troops had suf- 
fered two captains killed, four lieutenants wounded, and fifty-seven sol- 
diers wounded. There were about fifty soldiers killed. 

Something wrong here. No such news as that was 
ever given out at the palace, at least not since the time 
of Campos. 

And the Spaniards had their innings, if we can be- 
lieve their own accounts : 

General Gonzalez Munoz reports that he has dispersed the rebels who 
were besieging Fort Zanja, near Manzanillo. He went to the assistance 
of the beleagured garrison with a column of troops on four gunboats 
and two tugs. The rebels retired as soon as the troops landed, and the 
gunboats opened fire upon them. The garrison made a glorious de- 
fense. They were besieged for five days by 3,600 rebels, commanded 
by Mayai, Rodrigues, Rabi and other leaders. 

The fort, when relieved, was without water, the tank having been 
destroyed by the rebel fire. The insurgents fired 1 1 1 volleys of grape- 
shot. They had two rapid fire guns that were recently landed at 
Guayabal. The artillery was served by American gunners. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY, 347 

There is an unusual pretense of authenticity about 
this paragraph : 

The official'report of the fight on the Fermina ranch, near Jovellanos, 
states that the rebels lost eight killed. The troops lost seven wounded. 
The Spaniards pursued the rebels, and in skirmishes killed eighteen 
without loss to themselves. 

One of the troubles with this history of the war by 
double-entry bookkeeping is the impracticability of the 
verification in many cases of the incidents. The two 
inevitable tales about the same battle are so different 
in all important particulars, with perhaps the exception 
of locality and names of officers, that the laborious 
seeker of truth is driven close upon the theory that in- 
stead of one affair there must have been two or more. 

Mr. Frank Clark, agent of the United Press, very re- 
cently from Havana, and a most vigilant observer, 
makes a statement that may assist to clear the minds 
of analytical readers. He says : 

Before the arrival of Gen. Weyler, correspondents were permitted to 
accompany Spanish columns, and in the early stage of the war Spanish 
generals even permitted correspondents to visit the enemy's camps. 
Since the enemy has grown from scattered bands to organized and 
fairly well armed and drilled columns, it is a matter of life- and death 
for a correspondent to penetrate the rebel lines. He would be wel- 
comed by the insurgents, but shot upon his return to Spanish camps. I 
have had experience with four captain-generals — Calleja, Campos, 
Marin and Weyler. The last is the only one of them who made the 
life of a war correspondent burdensome. Suave and courteous in his 
talk, profuse in his offers to aid correspondents in sifting truth from 
error, polite in his reception of all Americans, yet he has a way of im- 
pressing upon a correspondent without putting it into words, that it 
would conduce to his personal safety to report nothing but Spanish offi- 
cial news. As these reports fail to mention a sirjgle insurgent success 
from the beginning, and are a record of many Spanish victories which 



34^ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

exist on paper only, the correspondent who accepts them at face value 
beguiles his readers. If Spain were winning battles, why not permit 
accredited correspondents to accompany columns of troops and report 
from personal observation ? If battles are fought whenever announced 
officially, why are safe-conduct passes refused to correspondents when 
all is over? 

The Spanish correspondents of Madrid papers, the Spanish reporters 
of Havana papers, all subject to the press censor, and the American 
correspondents are penned up in Havana, and every effort is made to 
keep the world in darkness as to what is being done in Cuba. Every 
cable despatch is carefully edited before it can be transmitted. Every, 
thing unfavorable to Spain or favorable to the Cuban cause is elimin- 
ated. The mails are searched to prevent newspaper correspondence 
being sent off. But with all these precautions the truth cannot be sup- 
pressed, and every Wednesday and Saturday the papers of the United 
States arrive in Havana, and long accounts of rebel victories and Span- 
ish brutalities, which are true, are read by the English-speaking resi- 
dents and translated for the benefit of Spaniards. 

It is this system of suppressing the facts officially, 
and doctoring the news for the bulletins until they are 
ciphers, that inflames the imaginative faculties and pro- 
duces the daily dime novel of current Cuban literature. 

But there is a mystery in the atmosphere which in- 
volves a fact — a most notable one — of the disposi- 
tion of the volunteers, so that the result of two candid 
and intelligent men trying to tell the truth about them 
is as follows : 

(THIS IS FROM AN INSURGENT GENERAL, OPERATING NEAR 
HAVANA, AND TELLING OF HIS EXPERIENCES IN A CAPTURED 
TOWN.) 

To demonstrate the feeling of the volunteers in the town I will give 
an episode of my raid. One of my men demanded of a Spanish grocer, 
a volunteer, the arms and ammunition in his possession. His answer 
was : *' If you promise to respect my property then you shall be welcome 
to it. I do not hate, and will not fight, the revolutionists while they do 
me no harm. I would fight for the integrity of Spain, but this is not 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 349 

Spain, it is Cuba, and you should have as much right to govern your- 
selves as we have in Spain. The volunteer service has already cost me 
many hundred dollars. My comrades have the same story to tell, and 
if you could convince us that our families and properties would be pro- 
tected, we would all join the revolution." 

(FROM A HAVANA CORRESPONDENT RELATING PERSONAL CON- 
VERSATION.) 

The source of danger is the volunteers. I was talking with my hotel 
waiter recently after he had been away for a day. He said he was out 
doing duty as a volunteer. He is a little sawed-off ignoramus, and I 
was curious enough to ask him how his companions felt toward Uncle 
Sam. 

*' Muerta Senor Sam," he hissed, bringing his fist down with a 
whack on the table. 

" Death to Mr. Sam ? " I repeated. "■ Why so ?" 

" He is going to help the insurrectors. We'll have to kill them all." 

" But I'm an American; would you kill me, too?" 

He seemed to be confronted by a situation for a moment only, when 
he said, sadly and earnestly: 

"I am your friend, Senor, but I should have to kill you." 

I was talking with an intelligent Spaniard who has a large business 
house here in fown, and he was asking me: 

" What in the world is the matter at Washington? Is Mr. Cleveland 
going to desert Cuba at the crisis? Can it be the action of Congress 
upon belligerency is to meet with his disapproval ? Why haven't we 
heard that is all fin " 

At that moment another Spaniard came up. 

" Senor, allow me to present my friend . As I was just telling 

this American gentleman, Spain will find every loyal, son shoulder to 
shoulder, fighting till the last drop of blood is shed to avenge such 
an insult to our national honor as this uncalled-for interference of 
America." 

Since I have come to have more or less friendly relations with the 
second senor, I have found that he is a physician of considerable prom- 
inence, and when we met accidentally, when we were alone, his first 
question was: 

'* Do you think there is any danger of the Congress modifying those 
resolutions if there is a joint session ?" 



350 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

There was an attempt at the Spanish palace after the 
explosion that broke the monotony of the movements 
of eminent officials with a shock that rent solid 
masonry, to create the belief that it was caused by a 
gasoline engine which had suddenly collapsed. It is 
surprising, however, to those who know the desperate 
temper of the Cubans, that dynamite was not set off in 
Havana long ago. The use of it has been freely talked 
of for months, but confined to the destruction of rail- 
roads. There is a circumstance going to show that 
the shock of an explosive in the palace was caused by 
some one who was unfamiliar with the surroundings or 
shaken by timidity — at least that he lacked knowledge 
or nerve, and was not of the nature of the Russian or 
Spanish bomb throwers. The explosion took place in 
the corner of the palace most remote from the apart- 
ments of the captain-general. If it was meant for him, 
there was inferiority of purpose or information. There 
is a Key West story that introduces as a possible factor 
another force of civilization — poison ! 

There is a rumor that the Spaniards have turned loose 
mules loaded with poisoned provisions, and an insur- 
gent general says : "Known Spanish troops poison 
wells, and, to break up camp, leave poisoned provisions 
behind in the hopes of their falling into our hands. In 
the last war this was a common thing." 

The better way is to disbelieve much that the com- 
batants declare until there is a demonstration of the 
infamies that should be incredible. 

The captain-general has issued a proclamation order- 
ing severe measures to be taken against the press, and 
that penalties be imposed upon newspapers publishing 
articles lessening the prestige of the Spanish national- 




x; 





HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 353 

ity, the army or the authorities, and empowering the 
governors of provinces to suspend the pubUshing of 
any papers continuing to infringe upon their orders. 
The captain-general is not, however, strong enough to 
suspend the law of precedents, and order that his coun- 
try shall be served by the freedom of the press to pub- 
lish live news. It will take more than one revolution 
to arrive at that beatitude. 

Meantime there is a letter from Maximo Gomez, say- 
ing: 

We have a great military advantage over the enemy in the incapacity 
of the majority of Weyler's generals. The false official reports of sup- 
posed victories with which they cynically pretend to deceive themselves, 
their government and the world, contribute to the speedy triumph of the 
revolution. No human work which has for a base falseness and infamy, 
can be either firm or lasting. 

Everything that Spain orders and sends to this land, that she has 
drenched with the blood of her own children, only serves to ruin her 
power. And no man is so well chosen as General Weyler to represent 
in these times and in America the Spain of Philip II. 

The commanders-in-chief on both sides have notably 
forcible ways of expressing themselves. 

In nothing during the whole course of the war have 
there been more positive disagreements than concerning 
the position of Maceo in the west end. This is a typical 
and test case. It was the boast of the Spaniards that 
the western province was truly loyal to them. There 
the feet of rebels had never polluted the soil save by 
stealth. One would have supposed from Spanish con- 
versation that if the rebels ever got there they would 
be suppressed instantly by the peninsular patriots. 
When the tide of invasion sweeping over the Island 
passed Havana, and poured, like a river of lava, in 



354 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Pinar del Rio, the people welcomed the destroyers with 
open arms, and there was rejoicing in the villages. 

After Captain-General Weyler had reorganized the 
scattered and bewildered columns, and imparted to 
the troops some of his own confidence, he ordered 
them to be put in motion, and the insurgents, short of 
cartridges, and without hospitals to save their wounded 
from death in languishing captivity, evaded combats 
until they found, through superiority in local informa- 
tion, advantageous opportunities, and then they behaved 
with extreme caution, and the larger bodies drifted 
rather than were driven eastward;; and the report was, 
Gomez was sick and going into rainy weather quarters, 
while theMaceos would conduct some skirmishing. The 
Spanish confidence was higher than it had been for 
months, when it was dashed by rebel recklessness close 
to Havana. The peculiar sluggishness of the Spanish 
columns until they have positive orders to do explicit 
things gives time for rebel raids. The Spaniards are 
not cowardly in the sense of being afraid of the enemy, 
but they are fearfully particular about their orders, and 
there is next to no independent initiative. 

The rebels rushed into villages within half an hour of 
Havana, and had their way for hours, watching all the 
while for the signs of Spanish activity, and going away 
at full gallop with such necessaries as they could gather 
as soon as there was choice between a heavy fight or 
flight. By the time the Spanish are massed to their 
satisfaction and in motion, the insurgents are out of 
sight. The return of Antonio Maceo to Pinar Del Rio 
was to the Spaniards a surprise, but the statement is 
current in Cuba that he was expected, and the secret 
well kept ; also that there had been carefully stored, in 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY 355 

anticipation of his coming, stores of supplies ; that there 
was corn ready for his horses and cattle ; sheep and 
hogs and potatoes in plenty secreted in the mountains. 
Upon this is based the Cuban theory that Maceo is not 
undergoing great hardships, and is not disturbed by 
decisive movements, though his position is well known. 
It is claimed for him that he has the country with him, 
and that there are signals arranged for surf boats, by 
which supplies are landed in some of the many harbors 
that are a feature of the coast line. 

There have been several of the sharp skirmishes that 
in Cuba are classed as battles, between the troops of 
Maceo and the Spaniards westward of the trocha, and 
each side claims victory, the rebels, as usual, riding 
down the Spaniards, hewing them in pieces and captur- 
ing cartridges ; the Spaniards winning the fields by irre- 
sistible bayonet charges. The fact of deadly combats is 
attested by the names of officers on both sides killed 
and wounded, but the narratives are vague enough to 
allow large scope for controversy without descending 
to tantalizing particulars. There is a waiting game 
played. Maceo feels that he is doing the cause of his 
country service when he remains in the west ; that time 
is against the Spaniards, and they far outnumber him, 
and have him located. It is their turn to move. 

The Spanish say Maceo's men are nearly naked, hun- 
gry, and despondent, and wanting to surrender, and 
must soon come to a bad end if they can be prevented 
from moving eastward ; and the troops work on at their 
trocha, in high spirits that they only have to fortify a 
line and stay there. This is regarded as equivalent to 
aggression, but it shows the captain-general is imitating 
the failures of predecessors. 



3S6 THE STORY OF CUBA, 



CHAPTER XXII. 

THE RECORD OF DESOLATION AND DESPAIR. 

The Toixh is Mightier than the Sword — Lists of the Plantations and 
Towns Burned — Dramatic Scenes and Thrilling Incidents in the 
Doomed Island — The Work of Destruction the Only Occupation — 
Utter Collapse of Business — Famine Close at Hand — Inhumanity 
and the Cuban Cry for Cartridges — A New York Deserter — A Busi- 
ness Man has One Hope of Escaping Ruin — The Truth of the Civil 
Government of Cuba — The Cry for Cartridges. 

"Cuba to-day only presents pools of blood dried by 
conflagrations," are the terrible words of Maximo Go- 
mez in a letter to the Cuban delegate at Washington, 
and he goes on, " Oar enemies are burning the houses, 
to deprive us, according to them, of our quarters for 
spring." The old chieftain adds, that " we will never 
use reprisals, for we understand that the revolution will 
not need to triumph by being cruel and sanguinary." 
The insiu'gents are, however, freely using the torch, 
that has become mightier than the sword — than even 
the machete. 

The Spanish authorities have furnished a list of plan- 
tations destroyed by insurgents during this war in the 
four western provinces — precisely those not affected 
seriously by war until in course of the struggle that is 
progressing : 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



357 



Name. 



Province. 



Proprietor. 



Annual 

production 

Bags. 



.Ernesto Longa 20,000 

.A. Ledesma 12,000 

.Guillermo de Sealdo. . . 5,000 

.Conde Reunion 15,000 

.Gutierrez Aldave 12,000 

.Conde Lombilo 12,000 

.J. A. Bascal 10,000 

, . F. Delvalle 5,000 

.Eduardo Delgado 15,000 

, . Vincante Cagigal 15,000 

. .Vicente Cagigal 4,000 

. .Y. Fernandez 10,000 

. .Joaquin de Miei: 20,000 



Mercedita Pinar del Rio. 

Tomasta Pinar del Rio. 

Asentista Pinar del Rio. 

Begona Pinar del Rio. 

San Juan Bautesta. . . Pinar del Rio. 

San Gabriel Pinar del Rio . 

SanUago Pinar del Rio. 

San Augustin Pinar del Rio. 

San Claudio Pinar del Rio. 

Gerado Pinar del Rio. 

Santa Teresa Pinar del Rio . 

Guacamaya Pinar del Rio. 

Santa Joquin Pinar del Rio. 

Salvador Havana Conde Berreto 30,000 

San Augustin Havana Francisco Casuso 15,000 

Teresa Havana Domingo Arango. ,. . . . 45,000 

San Jose ..Havana Carolina Lacoste 80,000 

Emilia Havana Manue Escobedo 10,000 

Manuelito Havana Conde Duana 40,000 

Luisa Havana Jose M. Herrera 15,000 

Santisima Trinidad.. . Havana Jose Arrogo 12,000 

San Leon Havana Sierra Y Toscano 12,000 

San Antonio.. ...... Havana Mamerto Pulido 15,000 

La Victoria Havana Viuda de Lejalde 10,000 

Tivo Tivo Havana Herderoz de Macia. . . . 8,000 

Purisima Concepcion. Havana Carlos Mazorra 6,000 

Aitrevido Matanzas Foyo Y. Diaz 25,000 

Saratoga Matanzas Drake & Co 10,000 

Laberinto Matanzas Sarafin Mederos 30,000 

Carlota Matanzas J. Guerendian 20,000 

Esperanza Matanzas Herederos de Pelayo . . 15,000 

Arco Iris Matanzas L. de Ulzurrun 14,000 

Diana Matanzas tlerderos de Baro 40,000 

Santa Leocadia Santa Clara Raurell Hermans 10,000 

San Jose Santa Clara Cacicdo y Cia 8,000 

San Antonio Santa Clara Cacicdo y Cia 5.000 

Carmen Havana Mearinan Crespo 100,000 

Santa Ana Havana 15,000 

Dos Hermanos Havana Felix Sardinas 16,000 

Semillero Havana Herederos de Arango. . 40,000 



Totals 807,000 



Value of 
stock and 
machinery. 

$250,000 
150,000 

55.000 
100,000 
100,000 
100,000 

85,000 

50,000 
120,000 
140,000 

35.000 
210,000 
200,000 
300,000 
200,000 
400,000 
700,000 
100,000 
300,000 
180,000 
140,000 
140,000 
300,000 
200,000 
1 20, COO, 

go, 000 
250,000 
150,000 
350.000 
150,000 
200,000 
100,000 
400,000 
180,000 
120,000 

55,000 

1,000,000 

200,000 

300,000 

500,000 

58,915,000 



To this must be added at least a hundred cane fields, 



358 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

and the following sugar estates, which had buildings 
and machinery, but sent their cane to be ground else- 
where: 

Name. Province. Proprietor. 

Santa Ysabel Pinar del Rio A. Otamendi. 

Dos Hermanos. . . Pinar del Rio Conde de la Reunion. 

Nueva Embresa Pinar del Rio Gutierrez Aldave. 

Rojas Pinar del Rio J. Barberia. 

Varela Pinar del Rio E. Uzabiaga. 

Recompensa Pinar del Rio Marques Veitia. 

Manuelito Pinar del Rio Eduardo Delgado. 

Redencion Pinar del Rio Emilo Kessel. 

Loboria Pinar del Rio Gutierrez Aldave. 

Corojal Pinar del Rio Abelarde Ledesma. 

Plazaola Havana Ygnacio Herrera. 

Esperanza Havana Conde Romero. 

Aljovin Havana Candido Matos. 

Concordia Havana J. Romay. 

Encarnacion Havana Julio Hidalgo. 

San Ysidro Havana M. Borrell. 

Amistade Matanzas Heredos de Macia. 

Capitolio Matanzas Heredos de Macia. 

San Luis Matanzas Ygnacio Herrera. 

Peria Matanzas Pedro Matiarto. 

Diamante Matanzas L. Angulo. 

'San Bias Matanzas J. M. Ponce. 

Penon Matanzas Viuda de Quesne. 

Intropdio Matanzas L. Solerre. 

San Joaquin Matanzas Gonzalo Pedroso. 

Elrico Havana Pedro F. Decastro. 

This list of forty-two towns burned is charged to the 
Spaniards : 

Los Arroyos, Ranchula, 

Juan y Martinez, Salamanca, 

Vinales, Boniato, 

Sandiego de los Banos, Bejucalo, 

Torriente, Catelina, 

Auroro, Jaruco, 

Flora, Los Abicus, 

El Cristo, San Juan de los Yeras, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 359 

Paso Real, Puerta Piton, 

Los Palacios, Ramon de los Yaguas, 

Santa Cruz, Bainao, 

Bahia Honda, San Nicholas, 

Roque, Sieba, 

Maia, Benavides, 

Los Abenus, Cardenas, 

Dos Bacos, Ibarra, 

Cabanas, Navajos, 

Cayapabos, Carrafalo, 

San Diego de Nunez, Cartagena, 

Quiabra Hacha, Moron, 

Sagua de los Ramos, Helena del Sur. 

In justifying' the war of the torch and explaining his 
invasion of the west end, Antonio Maceosays, in a letter 
dated at El Rubi, at Pinar del Rio : 

" I have been compelled by circumstances to resort to 
extreme measures. General Weyler, in his wild desire 
of gaining glory and of obstructing the recognition of 
our belligerency, went in his proclamation so far as to 
promise the planters that they would be able to grind 
their sugar cane, while to the government he gave the 
assurance that the elections could be peaceably held, 
and to the country at large he declared that the Pinar 
del Rio and some other province would be soon paci- 
fied. Some of the planters, showing themselves willing" 
to believe that the general would keep his promise, be- 
gan to get ready for grinding the cane. Under the 
circumstances I made up my mind to invade Pinar del 
Rio again, in order to show that we are fully able to 
compel obedience to the orders of our government. 

"I am perfectly satisfied with the success which has 
attended all my operations during this second invasion, 
which shall last so long as there is anything to destroy 



360 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

from which Spain may derive any revenue. As you 
will see, the discredit which the proclamations of Wey- 
ler were intended to throw on our revolution has, 
through what we have accomplished, fallen on Spain, 
whose incapacity to control our movements has been 
again plainly shown. 

A correspondent with the rebels writes : 

I asked Dr. Dominguez why the insurgent columns burned the towns 
when the inhabitants were really in sympathy with the Cuban cause. 

" The burning of the towns," he answered, "is often a necessity. The 
Spanish troops are unwilling to sleep in the open air. We therefore 
burn a town to harass them, but the principal purpose is to prevent its 
becoming a headquarters from which they may skirmish the surrounding 
country." 

The Spaniards have begun a general slaughter of horses wherever they 
find them, no matter to whom they belong. This is to prevent them 
from fallinginto the hands of the insurgents, and is probably in accordance 
with orders from the military governor at Matanzas or from General 
Weyler. Outside of the cities the soldiers kill every living thing. In 
addition to the common outrages on non-combatants, they kill horses, 
donkeys, cattle and mules for amusement or for practice. In many 
parts of the country people have abandoned their plantations and have 
taken their families into the cities to save their lives. 

The mayor of Wajay, near Marianao, April 18, accompanied by a 
policeman, was held up on the Arango estate by a rebel band, under 
Juan Delgado. The horses they rode and four others, taken from citi- 
zens for the government service, were seized. All receipts from taxes 
and town money already collected were taken from the mayor, who was 
then released. • The Arango estate was burned. 

A party of insurgents caught the mail carrier between Bainoa and 
Caraballo, took his letters from him, and then made him assist in the 
work of demolishing fortifications erected on the Loteria estate. The 
Carahatas correspondent of the New York Herald writes : 

" The town is left in absolute darkness, except for the fires started by 
the rebels on neighboring estates. There is no kerosene in the town. 
Poverty is general, and there is no money even to send a schooner to 
Havana for food and merchandise. The rebels burned yesterday a 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 363 

bridge on the road from Carahatas to Ramona station, and four houses 
on the Sabanilla estate. The torch is applied everywhere." 

A despatch from Havana, dated in March, gives these 
particulars of the way the work of destruction was go- 
'^ng on then : 

The insurgent leaders, Vincente Nunez and Eduardo Garcia, with a 
force estimated to number about 1,500 men, are encamped at the plan- 
tation of Magdalena, district of Santa Ana, Province of Matanzas. 
They have burned fourteen houses belonging to the colony of Estrella, 
near Palmillas, province of Matanzas, and have destroyed a number of 
cane fields in Central Felicia and Alfonso Doce. 

The insurgent leader, Angel Castillo, has burned near Puerto Principe 
a fine farm and a number of houses at Quinta Maria, San Miguel la 
Carbonera, La Josefina, Santa Rosa, and other places which had good 
houses. 

The insurgents have burned thirty houses in the village of Jamanitas 
and the farm of La Herminia near Marianao. They have also burned 
635 tons of sugar cane near Palmillas in Matanzas. 

Quite recently we learn that the rebels have burned all 
the tobacco plantations belonging to Pedro Murias, 
near Dimas, in the Pinar del Rio province, together 
with other property. Over 300 houses and 40,000 bales 
of tobacco were destroyed. The loss is estimated at 
over $1,000,000, that of Murias alone being $700,000. 
The misery resulting from the firing of the plantations 
is terrible ; 3,000 persons are rendered homeless. They 
are being protected by the government as best they can 
be, and fed with military rations. 

Among the documents found on the body of Jose 
Alfonso, the rebel leader, who was killed near Cardenas, 
was a circular ordering him to respect the property of 
Americans. These are the leadinof items in a recent 
news summary : 

C— 21 



364 THE STORY OP CUBA. 

"The rebel leader, Juan Suarez Gonzales, who was 
killed in an engagement at Jesus Maria, had on his body 
a communication from Lacret, ordering him to hang 
the owners of sugar estates who were proceeding with 
grinding operations, and all marauders, as soon as their 
identity is established. 

" Fear is expressed in Matanzas that an epidemic will 
result if the slaughter of horses is continued around the 
city. The newspapers in Cienfuegos clamor for pre- 
cautions to avoid the spread of the smallpox. The city 
is now filthy. 

" At Jaguey la Grande, in the Remedios district of 
the province of Santa Clara, the insurgents have burned 
the machinery houses of the Rosario plantation and the 
railroad station at Guanabano. The machinery houses 
of the plantation of San Narcisco, near Guira Melina, this 
province have been burned, and the cane plantations of 
Loteria, Carmen, and their colonies destroyed, with 
22,000 tons of cane." 

A late letter from Havana states the deplorable condi- 
tion of the people of the country districts in these terms : 

A very large proportion of the working class is absolutely destitute of 
ready money. The men, knowing there was no work for them in the 
towns, hesitated about going with their families, while they feared to re- 
main in their poor homes, where, at least, they could be sure of food. 
The time for obeying the decree ended yesterday. 

There can be no doubt that the majority of houses on the main roads 
will be deserted. There are many instances of men who have sent 
their wives, etc., to the towns to look out for themselves as best they 
can, while they remain in defiance of the government and run the chance 
of escaping the Spanish soldiers. Very many other peasants have joined 
the insurgents, with their wives and children, and stories of the exploits 
of the half frenzied women in the ranks are already beginning to circu- 
late on the Island. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 365 

A reliable person from the Sancti Spiritus district informs me that 
fully eight thousand recruits have been obtained for the insurgents in 
this province. In order to obtain food for the cities, the Spaniards have 
decreed that the cultivators from the country must lay out market gardens 
in the immediate vicinity of the towns and within three miles of city lines. 

Serafin Sanchez, the insurgent commander in Santa Clara province, 
has issued a counter proclamation instructing the men not to raise 
vegetables about the cities, promising them protection. 

It will be observed here that the Spaniards and Cu- 
bans ahke are frightened by the imminent danger of 
famine, and it is certain to come along with pestilence, 
if war is the sole occupation of the people. 

It is a horrible condition of things just at the begin- 
ning of the rainy and sickly season. Such is the ter- 
ror the torch has spread, and the desertion of all pro- 
ductive occupations, that there is no hope in the future, 
so far as human eyes can penetrate the gloom. Both 
sides are burning houses, the Spanish are killing horses 
to deprive the rebels of transportation, and the rebels 
are killing the domestic animals to get meat, and are 
ravaging the fields for potatoes and stripping the trees 
of fruit. There is no safety for any one on the road, 
and no assurance, if any care to attempt raising corn or 
garden produce, that he or she who sows or hoes shall 
reap. The rebels burn the cane and tobacco, and there 
will be no crops this year at all, and the meaning of this 
is no money to buy anything with. The fields are to 
yield weeds, the domestic animals of all kinds are in 
course of massacre. The Spaniards have ordered the 
people to the towns, and soon will have multitudes they 
cannot feed ; indeed, there are now many haggard with 
want. The destruction of houses by Spaniards is to 
force the rebels, by annihilating shelter, to sleep on the 
ground, which cannot be endured in the rainy season. 



366 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The Spanish and Cuban armies are simply engaged 
in thorough work destroying all the improvement 
of many generations on the Island and all resources 
for the production of food. Already there is most 
dreadful destitution, and the result threatens to be 
the extermination of the people following their total 
impoverishment. 

An April 23rd letter gives a summary of the pros- 
tration of Cuba, the collapse of her finances and indus- 
tries, showing the progress of the policy of desolation. 
We quote from the New York Sun this most shocking 
compilation of the evidences of material disaster: 

The receipts at the custom house, which have usually amounted to 
from $40,000 to $50,000 daily at thjs time of the year, have fallen to an 
average of $20,000. Some days even $16,000 is not reached. The fact 
is due to the general poverty of the country produced by the war and the 
reduction of imports. 

The sugar product is only 8 per cent, of its average amount in 
times of peace. About 1,000,000 tons of sugar have been produced in the 
Island annually, but only 80,000 tons were produced this year. These 
80,000 tones have come from sugar estates which were permitted to grind 
by the insurgents, contrary to their rule and in accordance with privatfe 
arrangements with the insurgent government. The sugar planters are 
loosing all hopes of a good crop next season. It is said that Gen. Gomez 
will issue a proclamation prohibiting grinding next year. Some say that 
the proclamation will come from the Cuban delegation in the United 
States, as Senor Estrada Palma, the Cuban delegate there, has received 
orders from President Salvador Cisneros to issue it. 

It is reported also that Senor Emerterio Zorrilla, a rich Spanish sugar 
planter now in New York, has written to his friends in Havana that there 
is no possibility of a mometary arrangement with the Cuban delegate at 
New York to secure permission to grind. " The island," says Senor Zor- 
rilla, " is condemned to destruction. I think that sensible Spaniards ought 
to look for some terms of peace that will satisfy the Cubans and prevent 
the total ruin of the Greater Antilles." 

In the last balance sheet of the Bank of Commerce only $231,000 ap 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 367 

pear as deposits. In times of peace the bank never had in deposit less 
than $1,000,000. The situation of the Spanish Bank of the Island of 
Cuba is also desperate. The governor of the bank, who is appointed by 
the government, desires to increase the capital from $8,000,000 to 
$10,000,000. The share-holders oppose this measure. They say that 
even the capital of $8,000,000 is only in name, as the stock is quoted at 
only 50 per cent, of its face value. 

Private bankers, such as I. M. Borjes & Co., Uppman, Hidalgo & Co., 
and Gelats, have sent to New York and Europe nearly all the money 
they deposited. They are fearful of the situation and of their responsi- 
bility in case the governor-general, as a war measure, orders a heavy 
contribution from the banks. During the ten years' war the Spanish Bank 
was ordered to advance to the government a large sum. 

Former rich commercial firms have now only a few names on their sal- 
ary lists. Nearly all the clerks may sleep and take their meals in the house, 
but receive no money. 

The increase of the inhumanities is plain, and the de- 
cUne into barbarism indicated by events that under 
other conditions would not be credible, and we compile 
specimens: 

On the sugar estate Santiago, in the province of Pinar 
del Rio, Lieut. Lazcano, who was commanding the van- 
guard of Gen. Arolas, met an old Cuban laborer who 
was watering his cattle. He asked him what he was 
doing. " You see," answ^ered the man. Instantly he 
was shot dead by Lazcano. Then Lazcano went to Ar-* 
olas and told him: "I have killed an insurgent." "All 
right," was the reply. " Do it again." 

In Cervantes the same Spanish column assassinated 
one night twenty-two peaceful laborers. On the sugar 
estate Vizcaya, another man was shot by the guerilla 
of Lieut. Campillo. In the province of Matanzas no 
countryman escapes if he is a Cuban. In San Jose de 
Los Ramos the crimes committed by the Spanish troops 
are numerous. On the farm San Cristobal, Bernabe 



368 THE STORY OF CU^A. 

Ramos, a laborer, father of four children, was killed 
simply because he was a Cuban. His friend, Felix 
Ramos, having also a large family, and Jose Fabio, an 
employee, were shot also. On the neighboring estate 
Santa Rita Jorgo Vento, another pacifico, was hanged. 
On the sugar plantation Progresso Pedro Ortiz, Ceferino 
Fernandez, Pedro Hoyos, and the latter's three sons, 20, 
17, and 15 years of age, were shot. And these ghastly 
murders are called "making war." 

One of the complaints of American citizens of prop- 
erty destroyed — and it is true there are many millions 
of American investments in the Island — is filed by 
the brothers Farrar, owners of the coffee plantation 
Estrella in the Havana province, and is supported by this 
statement: 

On Saturday, March 21, the dwelling house of the coffee plantation 
Estrella was the object of wanton attack by the column of Gen. Bernat, 
operating in that region. The said building received cannon shots of 
grape and canister, breaking the door, one window, several piazza col- 
umns, and greatly endangering the lives of the families of my brothers 
Don Tasio and Don Luis Farrar, both American citizens, the wife of the 
former being endenfe. There were two small children in the house. 
From my information, it appears, that the troops mentioned had sustained 
fire with a rebel band in Paz plantation, a quarter-league from Estrella. 

The rebels having fled to Pedroso and Buena Esperanza plantations, 
the government troops advanced toward Estrella, in quite an opposite 
direction from that taken by the rebels. On arriving at the borders of 
Estrella plantation, the Spanish columns began firing cannon at the 
dwelling house, and it was immediately nivaded by soldiers, who ran- 
sacked it, carrying off from wardrobes all jewelry and men's clothing 
which they contained, as well as a sum of about $60 in money. They 
also took away everything found in workmen's dwellings, arresting at the 
same time twelve of the occupants whom they conducted to Alquizar as 
insurgents. It should be observed that the cannon were fired solely at 
the dwelling house of the owners, although there were twenty other build- 
ings on the plantation, and the place was entirely clear of insurgents. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 369 

In consideration of all the above, and particularly on account of the 
danger to which his relatives were exposed, and also for the unjustifiable 
looting on the part of the regular troops in the service of a constituted 
government, the undersigned does most solemnly protest, and asks an 
immediate indemnity for the damages suffered, which he values at 
$5,000, as all work has been stopped on the plantation and everything 
abandoned 

In the midst of this merciless war, there is on the part 
of the combatants no thought of peace. "The surest 
way of bringing" hostiUties to a close," says General 
Maceo, " is to place in Cuba 20,000 rifles and 4,000,000 
cartridges. It would be a great service to'Cuba." 1^^ says, 
" if the United States would not interfere with the ship- 
ment of arms and ammunition " as he understands such 
shipments would be legal. 

It is said that the Bermuda on her second excursion 
"carried 1,000 rifles, 500,000 cartridges, two Gatling 
guns, many machetes, and 1,000 pounds of dynamite, 
besides uniforms, rubber coats and medicines. 

"The arms, ammunition and supplies were landed in 
six big surf boats that were taken aboard the steam- 
ship at Jacksonville." 

It is not yet bread, but only cartridges, that the Cu- 
bans cry for, and the Spanish policy of vengeance 
shows no sign of abatement. We say policy of ven- 
geance, because the cost of this war added to the last 
would absorb all the money that could ever be exacted 
from the productive industries of the Island, if we may 
imagine, which we do not, their revival under the flag 
of Spain. The only use Spain can have for Cuba here- 
after, and this is the outcome of all complications, is as a 
place for the favorites of the Spanish government to 
pillage. Even that comes to an end in the poverty of 



370 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the people. In Havana, that was a man of affairs in 
Cuba who said : " I am ruined if the Spaniards succeed 
in their strife for contest. I am ruined if the revolu- 
tionists succeed and the independence of Cuba does 
not mean annexation to the United States, for in either 
case we shall be under the rule of the sword until we 
are in the Union. My hope then," said this citizen of 
Cuba, " is in the union of my country as a state with the 
states of the American Union. It is a far-off, faint 
hope, but all I have. Without it my estate is annihi- 
lated, and my wife and children will come to want, for 
I shall be broken and done. I am not a political theo- 
rist. All I ask is a government that keeps order with- 
out tyranny and suppresses corruption so that a man 
who is honest has fair play. Men of my class were 
nearly used up when the war began, and we are pun- 
ished as the case stands." This was the despairing ut- 
terance of a man who had been a millionaire, and now 
mourned his broad fields desolate, his palace beyond 
his avenue of royal palms in ruins, his wife and chil- 
dren sheltered by marble and surrounded by splendid 
appointments, but stinted for the necessaries of life. 
There is constant controversy as to the civil govern- 
ment of Cuba, and it is just as well the friends of" the 
freedom of the Island should say frankly that it is but 
a shadow. 

Mr. Hitt, in the House of Representatives, speaking 
for the recognition within conservative limitations of 
the rights of belligerency, said : "The Spanish troops 
are practically penned up in the cities. They have 
only detachments outside of towns. The country is 
Cuban and the Cuban army holds it. The Cuban cap- 
ital, Cubitas, is more secure than Havana is to-day. It 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 3/1 

is not a war of similar dimensions to the ten years' war 
of 1868 and 1878. That never extended far beyond 
the eastern province of Santiago, and even that it was 
impossible for the powder of Spain to subdue. They 
held that monarchy at bay for ten years, although they 
had not an armed force one-fourth as great as that 
now under the commands of Generals Gomez and 
Maceo." 

We cannot give full consent to this for Havana is 
not and has not been for a moment in the slightest 
danger from the insurgents, and Cubitas is only safe in 
that sense that it is unsearchable. It is true, though, 
that the country is Cuban and the Cuban army holds 
it, except that part which is under the feet of armed 
Spaniards. It is true, too, that this war is a greater 
struggle than the one that lasted so long. If this goes 
on, it must end in total ruin to everybody involved. 
Spaniards and Cubans are falling together into an 
abyss. The answ^er that should be made to the asser- 
tion that the Cubans have no civil government, is that 
they have as much authority of a civic character as the 
Spaniards, for there is nothing but martial law in 
the Island. The fight of Spain is to continue martial 
law, and the Cubans are in arms to overthrow the 
Spanish law, which is administered by soldiers by force 
of arms. Some of the Cuban people thought to govern 
themselves, and they will seek first to be emancipated 
from military despotism, and the way to do it is to 
organize as a state and apply for admission to the 
United States. The importance of belligerency recog- 
nition is exaggerated. It is a 'question of cartridges 
and rifles, and it is not the part of revolutionists to re- 
gard proclamations and decrees as essential. 



372 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The Cubans have been exerting themselves to the 
utmost to provide by their loan, recently negotiated, 
means to capture a port and hold it. To this end they 
have been arming vessels, buying artillery, and firing 
upon Spanish gun-boats with some effect. If they 
could hold a port, especially in the west end, it would 
be a powerful argument for recognition by all 
nations. 

Some of the cartridges Maceo needs so bitterly 
appear to have been captured, but there is news from 
Jacksonville of the Bermuda. 

The manifest shows that an immense cargo of Catling 
and Hotchkiss guns, rifles, machetes, revolvers, pow- 
der, cartridges, torpedoes, etc., is carried. John Ken- 
nedy, an employee of J. A. Huau, a Cuban, professed to 
be the shipper, and the munitions are consigned to the 
Central American Fruit Company, Puerto Cortez, 
Honduras. 

When the Bermuda came into Jacksonville she had 
about 200 men on board. The others were picked up 
here and at the bar. One hundred came from Fernan- 
dina. This contingent was taken by rail to a point on 
the St. Johns River belov/ Jacksonville. There they 
boarded the tug Kate Spencer, which took them outside 
and transferred them to the Bermuda. Fully one-half 
the men are natives of the United States. The pilot 
who took her out says she looked like a war ship. Can- 
non had been mounted fore and aft, and machine guns 
had been placed amidships. 

The Bermuda was evidently not prepared to put in a 
plea that she was a ship on a peaceable errand. 

One old American soldier has had enough of the 
Cuban war, and has been heard from at Poughkeepsie 




LANDING THE CARGO OF AMMUNITION, Etc., BY THE STEAMER 
BERMUDA IN CUBA. 



HER STRUGGLES POR LIBERTY. . 375. 

on his way to Buffalo. His name is William Ewing, 
and he is fifty-five years of age, a native of Buffalo, and 
his story reminds one of the romances of the crusaders. 

He served in the Seventeenth United States infantry all through the 
civil war, and is a member of the G. A. R. Since the war he has 
lived in Buffalo until three years ago, when, with his wife and daughter, 
he went to Cuba, and invested $7,000, all the money he had, in a sugar 
plantation. His brother-in-law, William Hamilton, helped him work the 
plantation. 

Owing to the troubles on the Island, Ewing sent his wife and daugh- 
ter to New York last October, and from there they went to Buffalo. He 
has not heard from them since. Ewing and his brother-in-law joined 
the insurgent army, and Ewing has been in twenty-one engagements, 
under Generals Gomez, Maceo, and Garcia. 

" In one of those engagements my brother-in-law was killed," said 
Ewing. " Being almost crazed by my reverses, and not having heard 
from my family, I determined to come to the United States and look 
them up. On the night of March 28th I made my escape from the 
Island, and was rowed out in a small boat three miles, when I boarded 
a blockade runner, landed at Atlantic City, and walked to New York. 

" After arriving in New York I was afraid to make myself known, and, 
therefore, received no assistance from the Cuban Junta. From New 
York I walked to Yonkers, where Grand Army comrades gave me food 
and paid my fare to Poughkeepsie." 

Mr. Ewing, under all these circumstances, seems to 
have done well to have escaped from his plantation, for 
neither peace nor war had thrived with him in the 
tropics. 

He is a type of an American-Cuban soldier. One 
hesitates to use the word Cuban as distinct from 
American, for Cuba is the great American island, and 
should be included when we speak, as Daniel Webster 
did, of the nation as distinct from the states, and the 
sum of all : " One constitution, one country, one des- 
tiny." Here is a man who fought through our war in the 



37^ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

regular army, and when peace came resumed the labors 
of peace, and earned a little but adequate fortune, and 
concluded to go beyond the lines of the land of his birth 
and blood, tempted by the soil and sky of Cuba, and 
there invested the provision that, with industry and 
thrift, he had made for his old age. The war cry was 
heard, and he fought for liberty again, but his friends 
fell by his side, and he thought there was no hope left in 
that bloody land, and became a fugitive to find his own 
country, and the charity of his old comrades of the Grand 
Army of the Republic, helped him on the way home. 
/ The fixed resolution of Spain to ruin herself to the 
bitter end to hold Cuba for her favorites, and her forced 
market is not in the least relaxed, but grows still 
sharper and more severe and deadly as the misfortunes 
her policy has fastened upon herself are harder to bear. 
The vital forces that, wisely administered, would have 
made her a great nation once more are dissipated in the 
futile struggle to enslave forever her own children. 

In the strife that has marked the course of the failure 
of fallen nations, there has been nothing more dramatic 
or deplorable ; and, as in these evil times the beautiful 
Island is blasted, it would seem that the Cubans of 
to-day, like the natives of 400 years ago, must live in 
huts, sheltered by the trees, on the fruits of the forest and 
the natural growth of food in the generous ground, whose 
prodigies of production offer the last possibility of live- 
lihood, until they pass away under the savage cruelties 
of misrule, like those pathetic people here enslaved and 
destroyed by the discoverers of the Indies. 

AN ILLUSTRATIVE MASSACRE. 

Pedro Casanova, who has recently related his unhappy 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 377 

experience with Spanish troops, is vouched for as an 
American citizen and a man well known and educated 
and respected. The Herald representative in Havana has 
interviewed him — and it is absolutely reliable — of this I 
can vouch from direct personal information, and this 
gruesome story is an example of the blood thirsty mad- 
ness that spreads and blights like some contagious disease. 
Casanova owned at San Miguel de Jaruca, in addition to 
his residence, buildings and machinery, all belonging 
to the estate, a large, unfinished structure on a hill, 
built by Casanova's father and intended for a public 
school or church. Opposite the railway station was a 
drug store, which is now closed. Casanova lived at a 
distance of four city blocks from the station, and the 
rebels had passed many times without molesting him. 
This seemed to constitute the grievances of the Spanish 
troops. 

The regiment stationed near-by had won the title of 
undertakers, on account of their methods, as wherever 
they passed they left death. This regiment is in com- 
mand of Major Fondevie'la, whose officers say he in- 
structed them that whenever shots were fired from a 
house their soldiers should kill all the occupants, includ- 
ing men, women and children. They obeyed the order 
to the letter. 

Casanova's family consists of his wife, three children, 
— the oldest a girl of five, the youngest a babe in arms — 
and a nephew, Julio Vidal, a young man and a native- 
born American. Casanova's story is as follows : 

" I have suffered great outrages at the hands of the 
Spanish soldiers. The soldiers recently passed on the 
road, and my wife called my attention to the fact that 
they had broken into a vacant house where valuable 



378 ' THE STORY OF CUBA. 

property was stored, and were pulling things in pieces. 
Just then I saw two officers coming- toward the house. 
I was very glad, and went out to meet them, and invited 
them to enter the house and refresh themselves. They 
accepted, and said they liked coffee. While they were 
drinking, one or two soldiers came and spoke to the 
captain, who asked me, ' Who are the men in the sugar 
house ? ' 

" 'My employees,' I replied, 'including one engineer. 
The others are engaged in repairs.' The captain said : 

" ' I hear rebels are hidden there. I must take the 
men before the major for examination ; the major him- 
self will be here to-morrow.' 

" After he left, I found the door of the house on the 
hill broken open. A quantity of bottled beer had been 
taken, also my saddles and bridles, and many other 
things. Gloves and other articles of woman's apparel 
were tossed in the yardo I went to the station. The drug 
store looked as if it had been visited by a mad bull. All 
the shelves and drawers were thrown out and smashed. 
An empty store opposite was in the same condition. The 
counter was thrown down and the door posts hacked by 
machetes. The large coffee mill was broken, and all was 
in disorder. An account of this work was what the sol- 
diers had whispered to the captain. The officer had 
remarked to me with a sneer : ' The insurgents are very 
kind to you, as no harm has been done here.' 

" I was surprised on the following Wednesday morn- 
ing to hear shots as of several volleys of musketry. 
About three hundred soldiers — infantry and cavalry — 
were, in fact, outside, having surroun ded my house. More 
soon appeared under command of Captain Cerezo Mar- 
tinez. In most brutal and vulvar terms he ordered all 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 379 

in the house to go outside. The soldiers rushed in and 
dragged me out by the coat collar. My wife, with her 
baby, was taken out, a rifle being pointed at her breast. 
Eleutrie Zanabria, a negro servant, who was badly 
frightened, tried to hide. He was pulled to the front, 
and before my eyes a soldier struck him a heavy blow 
with his machete, cutting him deep in the head and arm, 
leaving a pool of blood on the floor. The wound was 
serious. 

" An order was then given to take into custody 
all the men on the estate. Near a tree beyond the hill, 
one hundred yards from the house, I stopped, about 
forty paces from the others, to talk to the captain, who 
had been at the house the week before. At that moment 
a young negro, Manuel Febels, made a dash to escape. 
Some cavalrymen rushed after him, firing. He fell, and 
they mutilated his body, taking out his eyes. The offi- 
cer, enraged at the negro's flight, pulled out his sabre, 
and shouted to the others of the party, ' Get down on 
your knees ! ' They obeyed, and he had them bound 
and kept in that position a quarter of an hour. 

" While I was talking to the captain, my wife and 
five-year-old child were begging for mercy for me. The 
cavalrymen helped themselves to corn for their horses, 
and finally started. The officers told me that my 
nephew's life and my own were only spared because 
we were Americans, and they did not want to get into 
trouble with the United States. They then ordered me 
to leave San Miguel without waiting a moment. 

"Their explanation of the raid was that the rebels 
had fired upon the troops, and that they saw one man 
run, as he fired, into my house, and that under the major's 
instructions the whole family should have been killed 



38o 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



My wife and children were in agony while I was away. 
My employees were all taken away by the troops. 
Their names are Tomas Linares, Ceriaco Linares, Eleu- 
terie Zanabria, Felex Cardenas, Juan Duarte and Flor- 
encio Rodriguez. 

"An officer of high rank in the Spanish army passed 
my place after I left, came to me here, and said : ' I 
know what happened. The man in command is unfit 
to be an officer of Spain.' I heard that my men had 
been taken to the Spanish camp, and shot while eating 
breakfast." 

In his report to Consul-General Williams, Casanova 
says that what was done could only have been con- 
ceived in madness or intoxication. 

In view of the crisis in Cuba and the recent devel- 
opments of an epidemic of murder there, in which 
laboring men are shot down on the roads and in the 
fields of the plantations where they are employed, it 
seems fit this chapter should close with some leaves 
from that extraordinary publication, the " Book of 
Blood," whose statistical horrors are so excessive as to 
challenge reason ; but this unparalleled record is in 
course of confirmation, and the production of this fea- 
ture has pertinence. 

This book gives a list of martyrs, 4,672 in number, 
under the head: "The Martyrs of Liberty in Cuba — 
Political Prisoners Executed Since the Commencement 
of the War with Cuba." The date of publication was 
1873 — half way through the ten years' war — and it is 
chiefly compiled from Spanish authorities. VVe select 
four pages as examples, showing the system upon 
which the book was prepared. The figures at the top 
of page 323 — 1,749— are the number of "rebels" ac- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 38 1 

counted for in the former pages. At the bottom of 
page 327 the figures 2,094 show the aggregate to that 
point. 

1,749 

27 Siguanea, Capt. Alejo Cantero, Capt. Felix 

Yurubide and thirteen more. . 15 D 6 Dec. 

28 Pto. Principe. Cristobal Mendoza i " 8 " 

29 Hatico. Com. Manuel Torres, Pref. Emi- 

lio Tellez, Subpref. Macias, 

and some other officers 8 " 11 " 

December. 

I Gibara. One who smelt as a rebel i " 18 " 

4 Las Tunas. Three rebels 3 " 31 " 

6 Momones. Juan Meneses i " 10 " 

7 Las Lomas. N.Rodriguez i " 10 " 

9 Los Cristales. Emilio Moreno and another.. .. 2 " 14 " 

II Holguin. Gen. Jose M. Aurrecoechea and 
his chief-of-staff, Facundo Ca- 
ble 2 *' 22 " 

17 Pto. Principe. Lope Recio Agramonte i " i Jan. 

" California. One armed rebel i " 15 '' 

18 Remedios. Two rebels 2 " 23 Dec. 

17 Pto. Principe. Cap. Francisco Betancourt, Emi- 
lio Estrada, Carlos Torres, 

Jose Molina, Francisco Bena- 
vides, Manuel Montojo and 
Caballero, Javier B. Varona, 
Martin Loynaz y Miranda. . . 8 " i Jan. 

20 Holguin. Manuel Zuniga, Evaristo Torres, 

Francisco Llaurador, Miguel 
Peralta, Antonio Olivo, An- 
tolin Varela, Santiago Miran- 
da, Antonio del Toro 8 " 27 Dec. 

21 Cienfuegos. Jose Cayetano Santos i " 22 " 

30 El Mamon. One rebel i " 3 Jan. 

15 to 30 Camaguey. Eleven shot in different excur- 
sions II " 15 *' 

L. — 22 



382 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



i,8i6 

31 Trinidad. A negro man i 

" " Nicolas Fernandez i 

" Guanaja. Seven prisoners captured with 

the wife of President Cespe- 

des 7 

— Colon. Antonio de Armas i 

— Canoa. Segundo Bejerano and Antonio 

Aviles 2 



D 



4 


Jan, 


5 


u 


14 


a 


15 


u 



January. 

I Santiago. 

" Vergel. 

" Cieguito. 

" Guisa. 

7 Santiago. 

9 Cienfuegos. 

" Tunas. 

— Camaguey. 

9 Holguin. 

15 Sti. Espiritu. 

23 Manzanillo. 
" Santiago. 

24 Santiago. 

" Consolacion. 

25 Vuelta Abajo. 



" Sti. Espiritu. 
26 Cauto. 
30 Esperanza. 



1871 

Jose Catasus, Tomas Stable and 

Mr. Marcetti 3 

Two negro rebels 2 

Two rebels 2 

Four rebels 4 

Augusto A. Dominguez, Dr. 

Juan A. Corrales 2 

Mariano Guerra i 

Nineteen rebels 19 

Antonio Hernandez and two 

others 3 

J. L. Ricardo and another 2 

Two rebels 2 

R. Guardia y Cespedes i 

Felipe L. Diaz, Juan Callejas 

and Severo Gonzales i 

L. J. Aguilera i 

Two rebels 2 

Felipe Rivero, P. Santana, F. 

Hernandez, N. M. Naranjo, N. 

Napoles, C Planas, A. Mora, 

A. Estevez, and Rodriguez.. 8 

A mulatto i 

Pedro Marmol i 

Bernardino Valdes i 

1,884 



7 


June 


4 


Jan. 


10 


<< 


4 


<f 


14 


a 


13 


a 


22 


<( 


31 


<i 


10 


Feb. 


15 


Jan. 


I 


Feb. 



25 Jan. 



28 " 

29 " 

8 Feb. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



:)Oj 



r'ebruary. 

1 Cienfuegos. 

" Trinidad. 

2 Cascorro. 

6 Margarita. 

7 Las Lajas. 
" San Jorge. 

" S. Geronimo. 

8 Joiral.- 
" Tunas, 

12 Loreto. 

15 Ciego. 

16 Sti. Espiritu. 
" Jumento. 

17 Barajaguas. 
" Trinidad 

" Moron 
'' Sagua. 
19 Sti. Espiritu. 
" Naranjo. 
23 Camaguey. 

" Guaramena. 
26 Juan Sanchez. 



" Casanova. 

?8 San Jose. 
March. 

I Trinidad. 

" Balume. 

3 Villar. 

6 Caunao. 



1,884 

A. Rodriguez i 

M. de la C. Gomez, L. A. Jaura- 

gui ; 2 

Enrique Uranga i 

Eigiit rebels 8 

A negro who fled i 

A rebel. » i 

Two rebels 2 

Pedro Romero i 

F. Prieto, N. Milanes and Miguel 

Marti, 3 

A. Lopez Gutierrez i 

A rebel i 

Placido Peralta i 

Jose Cerise i 

A rebel i 

Leon Pena i 

A rebel i 

Brigido Ferrer i 

A postman i 

A postman i 

C. Sosa, E. Miranda Provost 

Sergeant Callejas 3 

Seventeen rebels 17 

Majors M. Perdomo and S. Mila, 

Capt. A. Paredes, Lieut. E. 

Rivero, J. B. Agramonte, J. 

Martinez, P. Ibarra, B. Leiva 

and F. Echemendia 10 

Nine shot 9 

, A man i 

Miguel Gollo i 

Camilo Carnesoltas i 

A negro i 

M. Cervantes, Jose de Jesus del 
Sol, Rafael del Sol, M. Her- 
nandez and F. Rodriguez ... 5 

1,952 



D 



2 Feb. 



14 


u 


I 


Mch 


I 


(< 


I 


(( 


10 


u 


17 


a 


^z 


(C 


17 


(< 


I 


u 


24 


Feb 


I 


Mch 


I 


u 


I 


u 


I 


a 


23 


Feb 


21 


ii 


I 


Mch 


12 


a 


17 


n 



12 

17 

14 
17 



15 



384 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



8 Cienfuegos. 

" Moron. 

9 Guayabal. 

" Mijial. 
15 Entre Cedros. 



" Pico Blanco. 

" Trocha. 

" Caunao. 
" Punta. 
" Guillos. 

16 Tunas. 

" Casanova. 

17 Maya Larga. 
" Vega Vieja. 

" Barajaguas. 
28 Bartolome. 

" Sti. Espiritu. 

" S. Joaquin. 
2 1 La Vega. 



" Jicotea. 

" Barrancas. 

25 Cabreras. 

27 Trinidad. 

29 Nazareno 

April. 
I Guanaja. 



i>952 
Carlos Cerise and Salome Moya 

Hernandez 2 

Fernando Estrada i 

F. Fernandez, F. Martinez, Jose 
Valdivia, J. Companon 4 

Fernando Perez 4 

Manuel P. Quintanilla, B. Mar- 
ron, P. J. Tamayo and two 

other rebels 5 

G. Caridad, N. Rodriguez, Ag- 
uilar Montalvan 3 

A rebel i 

A man shot i 

Three rebels 3 

A rebel i 

Four rebels 4 

Eight rebels 8 

Luis Lavielle i 

Three rebels 3 

Five rebels 5 

Leon Lara .... i 

Pedro Martinez, Joaquin Guijarro 2 

Six rebels 6 

Jose Manuel Queseda (75 years 
old) for the crime of being 

uncle to General Quesada. ... i 

One rebel i 

Five rebels 5 

M. Zaldivar and another 2 

J. Marcano and Magdaleno Po- 

lanco ' 2 

Juan de Dios Cruz i 

Two rebels 2 

Jose R. Ponte, Geronimo Rod- 
riguez, P. Carmenati, F. Ca- 
breras and a negro 5 

2,026 



D 



10 Mch. 



II 
II 



16 Apr. 

17 Mch. 



30 



19 


(< 


15 


Apr 


17 


Mch. 


18 


a 


30 


<( 


30 


^i 


30 


u 


II 


Apr. 


>.i 


a 


16 


a 


ii 


a 


2 


a 


16 


a 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



3S5 



2 


Cedro. 


4 


Santi Spiritus. 


6 


Nicho. 


7 


Montano. 


a 


Enceibas. 


(( 


Demajagua. 


8 


Guaney. 


II 


Sama. 


13 


Listas. 


22 


Santiago. 


(( 


Meliton. 


24 


Santiago. 


25 


Guadacacoa 


(( 


Cienega. 


26 


Jobosi. 


25 


Las Villas. 


May. 


I 


Las Lajas. 


2 


La Vega. 


4 


Guasimas. 


3 


Arroyo Blanco. 


5 


Hondones. 


9 


Cascorro. 


u 


Babosa. 


10 


Salinas. 


13 


Nuevitas. 


II 


La Sagua. 



16 


Apr. 


8 


Aug. 


16 


Apr. 


12 




30 




30 




<( 




u 




16 




25 






* 


27 


it, 


30 


li 


2 


May. 



2,026 

Five rebels 5 D 

Arcadio Garcia i " 

Three rebels 3 " 

Four " 4 " 

Three " 3 " 

Five " 5 " 

Roman Hernandez i " 

Three rebels 3 " 

Six rebels 6 " 

Five rebels , 5 " 

Lieut. B. Salinas, M. Sanchez 
and F. Cabrera, C. Martinez, 

and R. Gonzalez 5 " 

Roque Trujillo i " 

One rebel 2 " 

Captain Coronas i " " " 

Miguel G. Gutierrez (member of 

Cuban Congress) and another 2 " " " 

Five rebels 5 " " " 

One rebel i " 3 June. 

Leon and another i " iz, May. 

Meliton Ramos and Jore Bitorla 2 " 9 " 

One rebel i " 4 " 

J. M. Escancio i " 3 June. 

Two spies . . ^ 2 '* 9 " 

Juan Torres i " 25 May. 

Carlos Pena and Camilo Velaz- 
quez 2 " 21 " 

Enrique Flotas i " " « 

Col. Pascual Beauvilliers, Capt. 
Antonio Bachiller, Lieuts. 

Pedro Lecerff and Ricardo 4 " " " 

2,094 



We give also the leaves that contain the names of 
the victims of the Virginius massacre. 



3^6 



April. 
5 Guaimaro. 

15 Diff. places. 
24 Gibaro. 

May. 

16 Camaguey. 

June. 

29 Vapor. 
" Tutela. 

Jul^. 

7 Amero. 

20 Juan Criollo. 

August. 
5 San Carlos. 
13 Caobillas. 

September. 

8 Dos Camioes. 

9 Cienaga. 

" Ojo. de Agua. 
16 Negroes. 
27 Gloria. 

November. 
4 Santiago. 



5 Santa Clara. 

6 Pulgas. 

7 Santiago. 



rJIE STORY OF CUBA. 

1873 

2,846 

Juan Ramirez Aldama i D 

Marcial Garcia and two more.. 3 " 
Antonio Cruz i " 

Hilario Mendoza i " 

Three working men 3 " 

One rebel i " 

Two rebels 2 " 

Two rebels 2 " 

Six runners 6 " 

Pedro Nolasco Zayas i " 

Capt. Jose Maria Avila 2 " 

Two rebels 2 " 

Two " 2 " 

One " I "■ 

Two " 2 " 

Generals Bernabe de Varona 
AND W. C. Ryan, CoLONEts 
Jesus del Sol and Pedro 

Cespedes 4 " 

Two rebels 2 " 

Four rebels 4 " 

Captain, Jose Fry ; Pilot, Wil- 
liam Baward ; Mate, James 
Flood ; Sailors — J. C. Harris, 
John Bosa, B. P. Chamber- 
lain, William Kose, Ignacio 
Duenas, Antonio Deloyo, Jose 

2,886 



16 Apr. 
I May 
23 " 



18 July 
24 " 



17 " 



9 


Aug. 


30 


u 


14 


Sept. 


28 


(i 


30 


u 


30 


u 


30 


(i 



7 Nov. 
II ■' 

15 " 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



387 



8 Santiago. 



9 San. Manuel. 
10 Lagunas. 
" Saramaguacan. 

" Caridad. 
" Diff. places. 



2,886 
Manuel Teiran, Ramon Lar- 
ramendi, Eusebio Gariza, Ed- 
ward Day, J. S. Trujillo, Jack 
Williamson, Porfirio Corvison, 
P. Alfaro, Thomas Crigg, 
Frank Good, Paul Khunrer, 
Barney Herrald, Samuel Card, 
John Brown, Alfred Haisell, 
W. J. Price, Cxeorge Thomas, 
Ezekiel Durham, Thomas 
Walter Williams, Simon Broy- 
eur, Leopold Larose, A. Arci, 
John Stewart, Henry Bond, 
George Thompson, James 
Samuel, Henry Frank, James 

Read 37 

Arturo Loret Mola. Augustin 
Varona, Oscar Varona, Guil- 
lermo Vails, Jose Boitel, Sal- 
vador Penedo, Enrique Castel- 
lanos, Augustin Santa Rosa, 
Justo Consuegra, Francisco 
Porras Pita, Jose Otero, Her- 

minio Quesada 12 

Two rebels 2 

One rebel i 

Fernando Molino, Juan Perez, 

Antonio Pages 3 

Rafael Armas i 

Juan Garces and two others. ... 3 



D 15 Nov. 



15 



2,945 



There are lists of prisoners captured by Spaniards 
whose fate has never been reported. 

We select two pages of this hideous bookkeeping as 
samples : 



388 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



30 Sidonia. 
— Sagua. 
September. 

I Cagj.ias. 

4 Mangas. 

6 San Cristobal. 

7 Cauto del Paso. 

20 Cardenas. 

21 Tunas. 

27 Jagua. 

20 Las Minas. 
October. 

6 Sierra Jumagua. 

7 Las Lajas. 

8 Sti. Spiritus. 

10 Remedios. 

" Puerto Padre. 

12 Remedios. 

18 Contramaestre. 

19 Pto. Principe. 

28 Puerto Padre. 
19 El Roble. 

31 Mijialito. 

■ — Los Negros. 

November. 

I Baguana. 

4 Tacajo. 
" Moron. 

5 Caunao. 

6 Jobosi. 

8 Holguin. 

11 El Macio. 

12 Caunao. 

14 Sta. Cruz. 
'' Tuinicu. 

15 Arroyo Blanco. 



483 

Three 3 

Eight , 8 

More than fifty prisoners 51 

Twenty-four conspirators 24 

Fifteen " 15 

Thirty-seven (Boet) 37 

N. Macario y N. Lugo. ...... 2 

Juan Sancho, two more and his 

personal guard 8 

Thirteen prisoners 13 

One prisoner i 

Com. Mendoza and others. . . 3 

Seventy-one prisoners 71 

One prisoner . . i 

One " I 

Two " 2 

Two " 2 

Two " 2 

Four " 4 

Two chiefs and five more 7 

One I 

One I 

Thirteen (Boet) 13 

Three prisoners 3 

Zaldivar and two more 3 

Captain Carvajal i 

Three prisoners 3 

Seven " 7 

Five " 5 

A certain number 5 

Five ' 5 

Lorenzo Xiques y Estrada R. C. i 

Four prisoners . 4 

Two " 2 

783 



D 



12 Sept. 
29 Aug. 

10 Sept. 

8 " 

11 " 

9 Oct. 
26 Sept. 

9 Oct. 



12 


u 


14 


i(. 


17 


" 


26 


" 


17 


u 


13 


Nov. 


29 


Oct. 


23 


Nov. 


3 


" 


II 


(( 


5 


«( 


27 


u 


27 


u 


19 


(( 


14 


u 


10 


u 


M 


" 


24 


u 


14 


a 


20 


(t 


24 


(( 


22 


Dec, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



,3«9 



1 6 Sipiabo, 

1 8 Moron. 

" Cabaiguan. 

19 Portillo. 

" Pinos Blencos. 

20 Minas. 

" Manacas. 

22 Zayas. 

" Remedios. 

24 Sti. Spiritus. 

25 Caunao. 

27 Holguin. 

28 Gua. 

C. de Zapata. 
December. 
12 Palmira. 

14 Velazquez. 
" Purial. 

17 Seibabo. 

21 Arroyo Blanco. 

23 Bijaru. 
" Baez. 

24 Holguin. 

27 Mataguan. 

" Sti. Spiritus. 

31 Pta. de Guano. 

" Casimba. 

January. 

3 Sta. Catalinai. 

6 " " 

7 Sta. Cruz. 

11 Pto. del Padre. 

12 Yaguas. 

15 Guinia. 



782 

One prisoner i 

Two " 2 

Cepeda R. C. and eleven more. 12 

Manuel Codina R. C i 

Three prisoners 3 

One " I 

Five bearers of seditious procla- 
mations 5 

Three spies 3 

Three rebel chiefs 3 

J. M. Abreu (incendiary) i 

Two prisoners 2 

N. Ramirez, N. Sarmiento and 

N. Chavarria 3 

Angel Colas, recruiting officer, i 

Ten spies 10 

Three prisoners 3 

Five " 5 

One " I 

Twelve " 12 

Twenty-five 25 

A certain number of spies 5- 

Five prisoners 5 

Bernardo Millares, Eladio Ca- 
brera R. C. 2 

Sixty-seven prisoners 67 

Two armed rebels 2 

One " I 

Four " 4 

Four rebels 4 

Felix Ferrer i 

One rebel. , .' i 

Eight prisoners 8 

Two " 2 

A certain number of prisoners. . 5 



D 



20 Nov. 

26 " 

2 Dec. 

2 " 
22 " 
28 Nov. 

21 " 

22 Dec. 
24 " 
17 " 

27 Nov. 

14 Dec. 



24 




30 


u 


6 


Jan. 


26 


a 


28 


Dec, 


30 


<( 


26 


Jan. 


15 


a 


I 


i( 


15 


a 


5 


a 


1 1 


a 


II 


li 


13 


a 


13 


u 


25 


a 


23 


a 


21 


(I 



390 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



983 

17 Limones. Three prisoners 3 

20 Cauto. Four " 4 

21 Marroquin. One chief and three more 4 

" Sta. Clara. Three prisoners 3 

24 Holguin. Three ' " .,,... 3 

" Barajagua. Some prisoners, among them the 

chiefs Fernando Toro and 

B. Perez 5 

24 Palmarejo. One prisoner. i 

" El Roble. One " i 

" Cubitas. Two " 2 

25 Caunaito. Six " 6 

20 to 28 Pto. Princ. Twenty-eight prisoners 28 



1,043 



D 



25 


<c 


II 


Feb 


31 


Jan 


24 


u 


29 


u 


30 


u 


5 


Feb 


27 


Jan 


1 1 


Feb 


29 


Jan. 



8 Feb. 



The closing pages we give complete. 



CONDEMNED TO DEATH IN GAROTTE, VIL. 

Antonio Fernandez Bramosio, Jacinto Valdes, Nic- 
olas Nin y Pons, Pedro Martin Rivero, Francisco 
Javier Cisneros, Ambrosio Valiente 6 

Carlos Manuel de Cespesdes, Francisco Vicente 
Aguilera, Cristobal Mendoza, Eligio Izaguirre, 
Eduardo Agramonte, Pedro Maria Aguero y Gon- 
zalez, Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, Francisco 
Sanchez Betancourt, Pio Rosado, Fernando For- 
naris Miguel Betancourt Guerra, Jesus Rodri- 
guez, Jose Izaguirre, Miguel Geronimo Gutier- 
rez, Arcadio Garcia, Tranquilino Valdes, Antonio 
Lorda, Eduardo Machado, Antonio Zambrana, 
Ignacio Agramonte, Rafael Morales, Lucas del 
Castillo, Diego Machado, Ramon Perez Trujillo, 
Manuel Quesada, Thomas Jordan, Francisco Ruz, 
Jose Valiente, Jose Maria Mora, Antonio Fer- 



March 10 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 391 

6 

nandez Bramosio, Jose Francisco Bassora, Fran- 
cisco Izquierdo, Plutarco Gonzalez, Ramon 
Fernandez Criado, Francisco Javier^ Cisneros, 
Joaquin Delgado, Ramon Aguirre, Francisco 
Fesser, Ignacio Alfaro, Miguel Aldama, Carlos 
del Castillo, Jose Manuel Mestre, Hilario Cisne- 
ros, Leonardo Delmonte, Jose Maria Cespedes, 
Francisco Valdes Mendoza, Nestor Ponce de Leon, 
Federico Galvez, Francisco Javier Balmaseda, 
Manuel Casanova, Antonio Mora, Luis Felipe 
Mantilla, Manuel Marquez, Jose Pena and Joa- 
quin Anido 55 

1871. 

Santiago — One hundred persons 100 D. 1 1 Mch. 

Jose Godino i " 13 July. 

Sagua — Santiago Feo i " 23 " 

Pablo Feo i " " " 

Nene Feo i " " " 

Pto. Principe — Enrique Flotas and Carlos Rivero. 2D 29 Aug. 

Sta Clara — Francisco Cardenas Perez i " 5 Sept. 

Baldomero Cancia y Garcia i " '• " 

Pto. Principe— Ignacio Gonzalez y Gonzalez i " " " 

Antonio Rodriguez Gonzalez i " " " 

Bayama — Arcadio Remon i " 3 Nov. 

Juan Francisco Aguirre, Martin Aguirre, Manuel 
Lopez Pineiro, Felix Fuentes, P. M. Riv- 
ero, J. M. Mayorga, Hilario Cisneros, 

R. L Arnao, J. M. Cespedes, J. B. de Official Gazette, 

Luna, F. V. Mendoza, Federico Galvez, July, 1873. 
Rafael M. Merchan, Tomas Rudriguez, 
Miguel Leiva Salmon, Joaquin Jara- 

millo, Cristobal Diaz, Pedro Bernal.... 19 

191 

There is no more ghastly record in the horrors of 
civil war — but as the desperate struggle goes on in 



392 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Cuba there is a rapid accumulation of material for 
an enlarged addition of the dreadful book which has 
surprising- support in official papers. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 393 



CHAPTER XXIIL' 

THE CAUSE OF CUBA. 

Cuba is Governed by Spain for Spain — Cubans are Taxed to Protect 
Spain — Impolicy Prepared for Revolution — Rebellion Forced by 
Misgovernment — Public Papers as Testimony — A Ruler of Spain 
Polite to General Grant About Cubaa Independence. 

Stripped of detail, the cause of Cuba is that the gov- 
ernment is not in the hands of the Cubans, arid the 
powers of the authorities are not directed to promote 
the interests of the people who are identified with the 
Island. The Cubans are a secondary consideration all 
the time — the Spaniards the first. The present race of 
Cubans have no more rights a Spaniard is bound to 
respect, than had those naked children found four cen- 
turies ago among the flowers, living on sweet potatoes 
and the fruit that covered the trees and the fish that 
glittered in the streams almost as brilliantly as the 
birds whose plumage flashed in the foliage, and in the 
masses of radiant bloom that overhung the rivers and 
spread over the valleys and adorned the slopes of the 
mountains to their peaks. It did not enter into the 
spirit of the Spaniards then, that Cuba was for the 
Cubans, and it does not now. They have never 
thought of it from that day to this. 

Defenses have been offered for the systems of taxa- 
tion that have prevailed from time to time. Not one of 
them ever fulfilled the conditions of being levied by 
Cubans for Cubans — by the people of the Island for the 



394 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

people of the Island. It is the peninsula that has had 
the power and has used it in Cuba for the peninsula. 

The taxes are multitudinous and are searching, grasp- 
ing and exacting, and vast sums of money have been 
raised and spent, not for schools, not for roads, not for 
the improvements that would have revealed untouched 
sources of riches, but for the enrichment and indul- 
gence of Spain and Spaniards. If the Island had been 
transversed by roads as France is, if labor had been ap- 
plied to the clearing of forests, the drainage of swamps, 
there would have been fewer fastnesses for the insur- 
gent and hiding places for the bandit. If the cities 
could have received the attention to sanitary improve- 
ments that the care of the public health demands and 
science applies with infallibility, if even the harbor of 
Havana had been cleansed, if the filth of the sewage of 
a city for centuries had not been accumulated in one 
huge cesspool, the yellow fever would not have been 
a perpetual scourge and scare, an unquenchable fire 
that consumes its thousands and tens of thousands. 
There was a project of making a canal across a narrow 
peninsula that would have established a current to 
cleanse the Havana harbor, but of course the money 
had to go for fortifications and pleasure grounds, or to 
swell those corruption funds that have flowed in a 
rapid, ceaseless river from the Island to the peninsula. 

The Spanish have not forgotten the fourteen million 
dollars and the treasure ships besides, that were captured 
by the English, when they wasted their own and Ameri- 
can manhood before Havana for spoil. The political econ- 
omy of Spain has, from the beginning, looted the Island, 
and the Cubans can make the same complaint extend- 
ing through the generations that the Spaniards make 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 395 

of the English for a space of time less than a year. 
The Spaniards remember, with a sense of injustice, 
that one hundred and twenty-four years have not soft- 
ened, the severe government of the conqueror. Lord 
Albemarle. There is a gallery of portraits in the pal- 
ace at Havana of the Spanish generals for nearly two 
hundred years, a supurb array of uniforms and striking 
Spanish faces, and they were all stern rulers, and with 
few exceptions they used their great office oppressively 
for the benefit of the official class, reofardless of the in- 
terests or the susceptibilities of the people, and they 
were as little moved by the protests against the sinister 
methods of harvesting money as Lord Albemarle and 
his chief of artillery were, when they used the bells of 
the churches to rob the clergy. 

There are differences of opinion in our country as to 
the propriety under the laws of political economy, and 
the profit so far as the people at large are concerned, 
of customs duties imposed for revenue and for the pro- 
tection of industries at home, but it is not disputed by 
the free-trader that it is excellent to have a country so 
develop mechanical skill and manufacturing art, as to 
be capable of asserting herself, and of a certain self- 
sufficiency in production that in times of trial enables 
the people belonging to the same political system to 
sustain themselves against foreign foes. It is conceded, 
after full acknowledgment of all the glories of com- 
merce, that it is well to have markets at home. There 
are disagreements as to the better ways of the encour- 
agement of varied industries, but that it is desira- 
ble they should be fostered, no one denies. How far 
they should be stimulated if at all, is one thing, but 
that it is important they should be established and 



39^ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

thrive and promote the general welfare by their diver- 
sity and profitableness, is a proposition that needs only 
to be fairly stated to be frankly conceded. 

The Cubans have no political capacity to protect 
themselves. The islanders are helpless in the grasp of 
the peninsulars, and the policy of the peninsula is that 
the Island shall consume the manufactures of Spain and 
be doubly taxed as the goods go and come for the 
privilege of the exchange. 

Spanish soil is not rich in the sense of being produc- 
tive of grain or articles of food and luxury to enter into 
commerce, and the idea that prevails is that Cuba is a 
farm let to agriculturists, who shall not manufacture 
for themselves, but purchase the goods they require 
from the proprietors across the ocean, and be taxed for 
doing it. There are many taxes — there were as many 
as the plantations in time of peace could bear, and 
there are but two articles that in ordinary conditions 
are raised largely for export, sugar and tobacco, even 
the cultivation of coffee having fallen into neglect. 

David Turnbull, Esq., M. A., writing of this said, in 
his "Travels in the West :" 

It was the revolution in San Domingo which gave the first great stimu- 
lus to the cultivation of the coffee plant in the Island of Cuba. The em- 
igrants and refugees sought shelter wherever they could find it in the 
neighboring islands of the Archipelago, or on the nearest points of the 
American continent. The greatest numbers established themselves in 
Cuba and Jamaica; but it has been remarked that those in less easy- 
circumstances made their way to Cuba, while the wealthier classes pre- 
ferred the protection which the British government afforded them. A 
sort of social revolution, affording some striking indications of national 
character, has since taken place in the affairs of these refugees. In the 
English as in the Spanish island, they have undoubtedly been the means 
of turning land that was otherwise useless to profitable account; of im- 




(397) 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 399 

proving the culture of the coffee, as well as the mode of preparing it for 
the market, and of increasing its production to a very large amount. In 
Jamaica, however, the coffee planters of French or San Domingo origin 
have not been able to withstand the competition of their English rivals, 
and have sunk into a state of comparative insignificance; whereas in 
Cuba, having only Spaniards to contend with, they have succeeded in 
rising in the social scale, and in maintaining their ascendency until the 
period which seems now to be arriving, when the coffee grower is to 
sink before the sugar planter, in consequence of the demand for sugar 
having increased in a more rapid ratio than the corresponding demand 
for coffee, combined with the fact that the supply of labor, although 
great, is still inadequate to the demand for it. Coffee can be produced 
more cheaply in other countries, but Cuba is likely to maintain its 
acknowledged ascendency in the production of sugar. 

The Cuban difficulty has been an artificial system — 
the interference of the government, always away over 
the ocean, favorable to cheap production and low fig- / 
ures for the two articles, sugar and tobacco, and unfa- 
vorable to home markets. Cuban industry being forced 
to export its products, and also to import many things 
that ought to be raised at home in the fields, or wrought 
in the shops, is taxed on exports and imports — on what 
is sold and what is purchased — on the sugar and the 
tobacco, and on machinery and clothing and food. 
Foreign flour and meat must be bought, and Spain, of 
course, discriminates in her own favor. 

The corrupt Spanish custom-houses take toll both 
ways and that the opportunities to discriminate against 
honest men — those who would not give bribes — and for 
the bribe-givers, furnish the foundation of many for- 
tunes, is a fact as familiar in Havana as Moro Castle. 

It was never the policy of Spain that Havana should 
be a manufacturing city. She was expected to grow on 
trade exclusively — the export of sugar in bags and to- 
bacco in bales — but, incidentally, there have been ex- 



400 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

tensive tobacco manufactures, that would not have been 
permitted if the industry could have been transplanted 
to Spain, and even that is being taxed away to Key 
West. The Spanish policy of promoting exports of 
raw material, and confining plantation products for 
marketing to the articles that together were worth 
about one hundred millions a year, is a most simple 
system, but precisely how it works they did not seem 
to know very well. 

It is, for example, held by the leading representatives 
of Spain in this country, that the prevention of the grind- 
ing of cane to make sugar did not cut down the reve- 
nues of Spain, because the export tax was small com- 
pared with other taxes, and did not yield the bulk of 
the money in the treasury — but it is not a far cry to 
the fact that the customs duties on the imports, and the 
imports too, have to be paid out of the produce, and 
that something has to be exported to get the money to 
pay with. 

If there is no sugar and no tobacco to sell — as 
there will be none after this until the war is over — 
there is a lack of one hundred millions of dollars annu- 
ally to buy things with, and the revenue of Cuba for 
Spain must fall off a million dollars a month. It will 
be seen, as this situation is studied, that it is the selfish 
policy of Spain that has prepared the way for this de- 
pletion of her resources. If Cuban industry had been 
cared for instead of strangled — if the country had been 
in a greater deofree self-sustainino- — the work of destruc- 
tion by revolution would have been far more difficult. 
If the tyrants' wish that the people had but one neck, 
that he might cut it through at a single stroke with his 
sword, had been realized so far as the neck was con- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 4OI 

cerned, he might have realized that some enemy could 
have struck the blow, and he would have found it in- 
convenient to have lost at once the race that he ruled, 
for he should irretrievably have lost his occupation. 

Spain has a tobacco monopoly — the state is the pur- 
chaser, manufacturer, and salesman of tobacco, and the 
unsophisticated supposition is, of course, the Spaniards 
help their tobacco plantations in Cuba by making pur- 
chases there ; but they do not ; they prefer the less 
restricted market of Virginia ; and the Spaniards at 
home use a great deal and produce little sugar. Of 
course, they patronize always their beautiful colony, 
Cuba, for sugar ! Oh, no ! — they buy largely German 
beet sugar. It is not so good as the Cuban, but when 
money is spent by Spain for Cuban products she does 
not care to face the results of her own crooked 
regulations. 

Fancy the ruling class of a country composed, age 
after age, of foreign born men, without any stake except 
office in the land governed — with no purpose but that of 
working places for money to go home with. When 
we say the revenues of Cuba are not sent direct to 
Spain, there should be an annotation in mind that three- 
fourths of the office-holders in Cuba are Spaniards, and 
that it is their policy to get away with savings, and that 
this is an impoverishment of Cuba for Spain's advan- 
tage. The one-fourth of the holders of office who are 
Cubans have, as a rule, small salaries, and pay commis- 
sions in Madrid to get them. 

The volunteers in Cuba, now 63,000 strong, are men 
who serve in the Cuban militia three years to get rid of 
the conscription for five years in Spain. There is no 
show for native Cubans in this organization, or in busi- 



402 ' THE STORY OF CUBA. 

ness comparatively, for the Spaniards rush in, and it is 
boasted that the Cubans are handsomely treated, 
because they are not coerced to perform military duty. 
The sharp Spaniards flock to the Island, and take ser- 
vice as clerks, waiters, cabmen, and all the situations 
sought by active young men, and with the motive of 
military service in Cuban towns — home guards — they 
consent to extremely low compensation, crowding out 
the natives, of course. They go home as soon as their 
military liability has expired, and, cutting wages in their 
various Cuban occupations, they are an army for Spain, 
maintained at the expense of Cuba — preferred to the 
natives — another drain upon the manhood and healthy 
life of the Island. 

There has been much said about the representation of 
Cuba in the Spanish Cortes, but it has not efficacy — it is 
a form, and there is no healing virtue in it. Cuban 
votes are allowed to. count for minor matters only. 
There is not even the shadow of self-government. The 
captain-general is the supreme ruler, and he is a military 
chieftain, whose will is the law, and whose usages are 
those of martial law, and this is the crowning feature of 
every one of the vaunted schemes of liberal reform. 

There has been an endeavor to set this down with 
" malice toward none and charity for all," and it certainly 
accounts for the frequent risings and constant agitation, 
that have at last resulted in the war that is overwhelm- 
ing in ruin Spaniards and Cubans alike. Each effort of 
the Cubans to free themselves has caused the imposi- 
tion of burdens until the load is beyond endurance. 

The cost of the ten years' war has been charged to 
Cuba by Spain, and that of itself takes half that the 
customs amounted to in the best of times. It is liot 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 403 

possible for the Island to meet further requisition. Be- 
fore the present war had been determined upon, as a 
last resort, the planters were in a state of despond- 
ency — taxed until desperate. Those of them who en- 
tered into the rebellion say : " We had nothing to lose — 
all were ruined any how. We had to conquer or die or 
run away." 

It may serve some suggestion of stratagem or impulse 
of vanity or arise from a vague reasoning that there is 
occasion for alarm, because Madrid has been telegraph- 
ing to Havana that the minister of colonies will put into 
effect the reforms of March 15th, 1895. We have seen 
what those adjustments are, and surely they are not ac- 
ceptable. 

Sefior Estrado Palma has issued a manifesto regard- 
ing the pretended reforms which have been persistently 
pushed upon the public attention, and that which he has 
to say is full of striking pertinence. He writes, the " re- 
forms " are unworthy consideration, and " we are firmly 
resolved to listen to no compromise and to treat with 
Spain only on the basis of absolute independence for 
Cuba. If Spain has power to exterminate us, then let 
her convert the Island into a vast cemetery ; if she has 
not, and wishes to terminate the war before the whole 
country is reduced to ashes, then let her adopt the 
only measure that will put an end to it and recognize 
our independence." " ^ 

Now that this is the spirit and purpose of the great 
majority of the Cubans, may be accepted as the truth. 
and that which is and is to come, judged accordingly. 

Senor Estrado Palma proceeds: " We have thrown 
ourselves into the struggle advisedly and deliberately ; 
w6 knew what we would have to face, and we decided 



404 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

unflinchingly to persevere until we should emancipate 
ourselves from the Spanish government. _And we 
know that we are able to do it, as we know that we are 
competent to govern ourselves. Experience has taught 
us that as a people we have nothing to envy the Span- 
iards ; in fact, we feel ourselves superior to them, and 
from them we can expect no improvement, no better 
education. We are Americans ; we breathe the pure 
air of free institutions, and we contemplate with envy 
the government of the people, by the people, and for 
the people. We are in as good condition to rule our- 
selves without any fear of disorder or civil war as were 
the thirteen American colonies when they emancipated 
themselves from England, and in a superior condition 
to the Spanish colonies of this continent when they 
broke from the Spanish yoke. Slavery is over in Cuba 
with all its injustice and cruelties. The. white man and 
the colored live in perfect harmony, without prejudices 
or resentment between them. They fight together to 
attain political liberty. The colored people in Cuba are 
-superior to those in the United States. They are in- 
dustrious, intelligent, and lovers of learning. During 
the last fifteen years they have attained wonderful in- 
tellectual development. On the other hand, thousands 
of white people, with all the facilities offered by their 
wealth, have completed their education in foreign coun- 
tries, especially in the United States, where they have 
accustomed themselves to republican customs, and to 
the exercise of their rights as freemen, thus preparing 
themselves and preparing their sons for the exercise of 
those same rights in their native land when emancipated 
from Spanish domination." 

This is delivered with the emphasis, perhaps the ex- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 405 

travagance, of enthusiasm, but it is the truth of the 
Cubans, and it is of the highest importance that the 
people of the United States should familiarize them- 
selves with the facts, for they are the essentials to the 
understanding of the fundamental conditions of the set- 
tlements the future must brinor forth. Sefior Palma 
tersely states facts, when he says : " Between the pres- 
ent revolution and the government of Spain there is no 
possible arrangement not based on the recognition of 
Cuban independence. It is useless to speak about re- 
forms, or even of the more liberal home rule. All that 
is to nurse illusions and to lose time." 

The parallel that Senor Palma draws between the 
grievances of our revolutionary fathers, when they de- 
clared their independence, and the cause of Cuba, is a 
master-piece, and should be familiar to all American 
citizens. This is it : 

We Cubans have a thousandfold more reason in our endeavor to free 
ourselves from the Spanish yoke than the people of the thirteen colonies 
when, in 1775, they rose in arms against the British government. The 
people of these colonies were in full enjoyment of all the rights of man ; 
they had liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, liberty of the press, 
the right of public meeting, and the right of free locomotion. They 
elected those who governed them, they made their own laws, and, in fact, 
enjoyed the blessings of self-government. They were not under the sway 
of a captain-general with arbitrary powers, who, at his will, could im- 
prison them, deport them to penal colonies, or order their execution even 
without the semblance of a court-martial. They did not have to pay a 
permanent ajmy and navy that they might be kept in subjection, nor to 
feed a swarm of hungry employees yearly sent over from the metropolis 
to prey upon the country. They were never subjected to a stupid and 
crushing customs tariff which compelled -them to go to the home markets 
for millions of merchandise annually, which they could buy much cheaper 
elsewhere ; they were never compelled to cover a budget of twenty-six 
or thirty million" dollars a year without the consent of the taxpayers and 



406 THE STORY OF CUBA.^ 

for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the army and navy of the 
oppressor, to pay the salaries of thousands of worthless European em- 
ployees, the whole interest on a debt not incurred by the colony, and 
other expenditures from which the Island received no benefit whatever, 
for out of all those millions only the paltry sum of $700,000 was appar- 
ently applied for works of internal improvement, and one-half of which 
invariably went into the pockets of the Spanish employees. 

If the right of the thirteen British colonies to rise in arms in order 
to acquire their independence has never been questioned because of the 
attempt of the mother country to tax them by a duty on tea or by the 
Stamp Act, will there be a single citizen in this great republic of the 
United States, whether he be a public or a private man, who will doubt 
the justice, and more than the justice, the necessity in which the Cuban 
people find themselves of fighting to-day and to-morrow and always, 
until they shall have overthrown Spanish oppression and tyranny in 
their country, and formed themselves into a free and independent re- 
public ? 

It is a question of the highest interest and moment 
whether the war reopened in 1895 was avoidable, and 
the strongest testimony that it was not, we find in the 
address to the people of Cuba of the Central Board of 
the Liberal Autonomist party, which makes the last elo- 
quent plea against war. The address asserted for the 
party that it had *' worked for many years to avoid any 
future strife, and to prevent anything that might jus- 
tify or afford pretext for it. The Autonomist party is 
the depository of the hopes and ideals of the Cuban 
people." And the further claim was made, " the only 
party of reasonable opposition that has ever been organ- 
ized in the country, for which consideration it is now 
incumbent on us to make a frank statement of our po- 
sition, and do our best to unite the opinions and feel- 
ings of all who have faith in our loyalty and confidence 
in our patriotism at this time, that while the govern- 
ment is making great efforts to quell the rebellion in 



HER STRUGGLES fOR LIBERTY. 407 

its beginning, the whole people and its genuine repre- 
sentatives must also, on their part, help to maintain 
order and protect the common interests." 
Then followed this ornate declaration : 

The trouble has started just when a new order of things had been 
established, to which our deputies and senators have contributed with 
purity and honesty of purpose. The government that presided over this 
work of peace is not the one that will have to put it into execution. The 
financial situation, which was most critical for reasons independent of 
the action of governments, is becoming more complex on account of the 
expenses and anxiety caused by the war, at the moment that a happy 
understanding amongst the various local parties seemed to secure in a 
short time for our threatened sources of wealth, that limited help which, 
under grave circumstances, can be obtained only from the governing 
powers by stimulating individual enterprise and the fruitful spirit of 
association, which will, in the end, affect the salvation of said wealth. 

The cry of rebellion has sounded here, having been uttered from 
abroad at the risk of the lives and property of others, by a group of irre- 
sponsible conspirators who have spent many years away from this coun- 
try, whose real condition is unknown to them, pretending to liberate it 
from evils which they would not suffer in common with us, in the same 
manner that they will also shun those that must follow their preposter- 
ous and condemnable attempt, and even perhaps the risks to which they 
may expose the obdurate instruments of their folly; but even in absence 
of such trouble that is menacing the fundamental interests and the fu- 
ture of this country, our central board would have made it their duty 
to address the people on the eve of the establishment of a new regime 
created with the co-operation of our parliamentary representatives in the 
midst of an atmosphere of benevolence and concord " as they had never 
met before at the metropolis," and of which they desired to make a 
loyal testimony in the presence of their compatriots; for as this change 
in the disposition of mind proves that the suspicions and obstacles which 
so often had interfered with colonial reforms have begun to disappear 
in large proportion, it is now quite proper to make it constant that the 
real Cuban people, in spite of said emigrant conspirators, will recipro- 
cate such rectification in the traditional policy, if the government main- 
tains it in the same spirit of concord and confidence under which it was 
originated. 



40 8 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

But it is unquestionable that the actual disturbance primes all other 
affairs, and must affect every one of them. Even in the probable case 
that the rebellion be soon overcome with the decided concurrence of 
public opinion, its pernicious effects must be felt for many years. 

It is apparent in this paper, which is well known in 
Cuba, that the gentlemen who prepared and signed it 
were without knowledge of the elements they were 
dealing with, and that the remedies they thought would 
cure all troubles, had no virtue, for they were inade- 
quate to cope with the disease. The Liberal Autono- 
mists could have no comprehension of the weaknesses 
of the alleged reforms, or the forces that were muster- 
ing for the rebellion. 

Sefior Moret, former Spanish minister of the colonies, 
has been talking Cuban " reform " in Madrid, profess- 
ing himself a thorough Liberal, and he tells of the re- 
forms he thinks necessary, and he would give this : 

First — Economic reform. I mean by this free trade, the guarantee 
of all foreign capital employed in Cuba, the application of a large por- 
tion of the Cuban revenue to the public works of the Island, and unity 
or similarity of the banking system employed, extending to Cuba the 
national credit. 

Precisely. But why was not this attended to some 
time between 1878 and 1895 ? The Spanish minister to 
the United States, who so ably defends his country, 
has the same idea of reform, but it comes too late. 
Senor Moret wants political reform, after " the com- 
plete pacification of the Island." But it will not be 
pacified, and, therefore, there is no reform possible. 
Sefior Moret is dreaming. He even talks of a " refer- 
endum " in regard to administrative reform, but the 
discussion of the decoration of a house that is on fire 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 409 

should be deferred. E. del Castillo, member of the 
Cuban Press Company of New York, writes of the re- 
cent election in Cuba : 

Theoretically, Cuba is represented. Practically, she is not. There 
are 1,650,000 peojole in the Island, of whom 1,000,000 are white. Yet 
in the elections only 47,649 men have been allowed to vote for members 
of the Cortes, and of these over 20,000 were not Cubans at all, but 
Spaniards, officially or otherwise, resident in Cuba. Out of about forty 
Cuban members of the Cortes, only four represent Cuban constitu- 
encies. 

Here we have in a nutshell what the so-called representation of thirty 
deputies and sixteen senators in the Spanish Cortes claimed by the cor- 
respondent amount to. 

During the recent elections in Cuba, out of thirty odd deputies elected, 
there appears only one native-born Cuban, and who, by the by, is a ren- 
egade. All the others are native-born Spaniards, some of whom have 
never been in Cuba, and who only know of the Island from their geo- 
graphical knowledge. 

Senor Moret was asked : 

" Does your Exellency agree with Seiior Sagasta that 
the Spanish people, as a whole, would resent friendly 
overtures from the United States ? " 

He said : 

" I do thoroughly agree with him. Spanish pride will 
not allow any interference from the United States. 
This is due chiefly to the language employed in the sen- 
ate and House of Representatives." 

There has been a good deal of wild talk in Congress, 
but if there is something- said on one side of the ocean 
that is not statesmanlike, it is no reason why a states- 
man on the other side should give way to emotion and 
become effusive. 

The good offices of the United States were offered to 



4IO THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Spain during the ten years' war. President Grant sug- 
gested that Spain should recognize Cuban indepen- 
dence. The correspondence between Secretary of State 
Fish and Minister Sickles, is interesting. Mr. Hitt, 
chairman of the House Committee of foreign relations, 
referred to this correspondence recently on the floor of 
the House, saying : 

It is the very case we have in hand. That was an insurrection or re- 
bellion in Cuba not half so extensive as the present, and it was near the 
beginning. Then the good offices of the United States were offered to 
bring the war to a close on the basis of Cuban independence, Spain to be 
paid an indemnity which the United States should guarantee. 

The ruler of Spain was General Prim, and he received that proposition 
in the same friendly spirit in which it was made. There was no rupture 
of relations. I will not read all his answers, which are contained in, and 
discussed through, several despatches of considerable length, but only to 
show its spirit I will give a few words. They may conveniently be 
found by members in Senate Report 141, if anyone desires to read it. 
At the conclusion of his remarks, assenting to the proposition of Mr. 
Sickles, he said: 

"I do not flatter myself that Spain will retain possession of the Island. 
I consider that the period of colonial autonomy has virtually arrived. 
However the present contest may end, whether in the suppression of the 
insurrection or in the better way of an amicable arrangement through 
the assistance of the United States, it is equally clear to me that the 
time has come for Cuba to govern herself; and if we succeed in putting 
down the insurrection to-morrow I shall regard the subject in the same 
light that the child has attained its majority, and should be allowed to 
direct its own affairs. We want nothing more than to get out of Cuba, 
but it must be done in a dignified, and honorable manner." 

That was in response to General Grant's proposition that the indepen- 
dence of Cuba should be recognized and that an indemnity should be 
made to Spain, which would be guaranteed by the United States. Gen- 
eral Prim, however, made a condition that the Cubans must first lay 
down their arms, and after that there might be a vote by the people of 
Cuba on the question of separation. But the Cuban people would not 
consent to lay down their arms. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



411 



The difficulty is one that stays. The Spaniards re- 
fuse to do anything when they propose that the Cubans 
shall, first of all, submit themselves to Spain. That can- 
not happen. The fact, however, that General Prim did 
not regard the American proposition a personal insult 
when it came from General Grant, shows that Spanish 
pride is not always impracticable, and one of the prelim- 
inaries to an accommodation is that Spain shall be edu- 
cated by her misfortunes to understand the cause of 
Cuba, and consent to her independence. 



412 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

TFIE CRISIS IN CUBA. 

This War not a Ten Years' War — The Fighting too Fast and Furious to 
Last— The Crisis Financial, Industrial, Social, Military and Politi- 
cal — General Lee's Important Functions — The Policy of the Ad- 
ministration — Senator White's Speech — James Creelman's Story of 
Massacre — The Power and Duty of the United States — The Mutual 
Hatred of the Creole and the Spaniard, and Influence of the Aboli- 
tion of Slavery. 

This will not be a ten years' war. It is too fast and 
furious to last so long. The tedious struggle from 
1868 to 1878 was, in its most important manifestations, 
confined to two provinces, and those of the extreme 
east and of the least importance to agriculture and com- 
merce of the six modern divisions of the Island. 

The vital parts of the country were not assailed or 
menaced. Sugar making, tobacco growing, cutting and 
curing were carried on as usual, with the exception of 
districts whose losses did not affect the oreneral result. 
The presence of the Spanish army increased the stir in 
the streets and shops, the hotels and theatres of Ha- 
vana. The crops brought in money year after year, 
and only in the infected provinces were plantation 
profits reduced and the course of living seriously un- 
settled. In the years of the wearisome skirmishing in 
the east end, labor was employed in the richest parts of 
the country. Disorders were localized. 

This war is another affair. The military forces en- 



ttMk STRUGdL^S POR LIBERTY. \\% 

g-aged are three times as large on both sides as they 
were when they reached their maximum, before Campos 
succeeded in arranging the truce of Zanjon. The pol- 
icy of Gomez has been this time to force conclusions, 
and the way he reduces Spanish resources is obvious. 
First, the armies of the Spaniards are, with the volunteers 
and the guerilla bands, nearly two hundred thousand, 
and they cannot live off the country as it has been swept 
with fire, despoiled of labor and deprived of domestic 
animals. The food supplies must come from abroad, 
and are found especially in Spain and the United States, 
and expenses, it is thus accountable, are greatly in excess 
of all former periods. 

It is also the rigid order of the Spanish authorities 
that the soldiers shall, for their own sake, be restrained 
from indulgence in the tempting fruit of Cuba. The 
diet of beans, rice and pork may be less palatable, but 
is much more wholesome. 

Heretofore the known riches of Cuba were a help to 
Spanish credit. Now it is known in all the money mar- 
kets of the world that the disputed Island is mortgaged 
for far more than it will ever be worth, under Spanisl]^ 
rule, for the payment of the charges of old debts. 
Therefore there is a crisis as to the credit of Spain, and 
the war must be fought out speedily, or there will be a 
collapse in her finances. 

The policy of Gomez has been to make the war a mat- 
ter of urgency. He is, as Lord Randolph Churchill 
said of Mr. Gladstone, "an old man in a hurry," and he 
wants the fight fought before the famine comes. He 
responded to Spain's imposing military forces aggres- 
sively, and there were two purposes in the character he 
gave his campaigning. The first was to abolish the 

C— 24 



414 "^^E STORY OF CUBA. 

Cuban revenues of Spain by stopping the " grinding " of 
cane, and at first he only fired enough cane fields to 
give notice that sugar production was inconsistent with 
the Cuban struggle for liberty. Second, the discontin- 
uance of the ordinary occupations of labor on the sugar 
plantations, set free, for war purposes, multitudes of 
strong men, and they ground their machetes, con- 
scripted horses and mules, and set forth, soldiers of 
fortune and freedom. It was with these men the cel- 
ebrated raid of November last was made, and that with 
the aid of the ultra-Spaniards, who demanded inhuman- 
ity, overthrew Campos and introduced Weyler. 

During the long march from Santiago and Puerto 
Principe to Pinar del Rio, the insurgents gave out to 
all concerned that they wanted to stop the sugar works, 
doing as little mischief otherwise as they could, and 
they often spared cane fields, burning only those of 
men obnoxious to the revolutionists, and not sweeping 
away, killing or burning the horses and carts whose 
reason for being was the transportation of cane to the 
grinding mills and furnaces. 

At this time, which was about coincident with the 
Marin administration — Captain-General Marin filling 
the gap between Campos and Weyler — the understand- 
ing was that while the sugar interest was essential to the 
Spanish domination and must be "limited" so as not to 
yield revenue. The tobacco industry was, on the whole, 
favorable to the insurgents, in this at least, that many 
of the tobacco planters and merchants and manufac- 
turers were liberal contributors to the Cuban war fund, 
and that was a revenue that must not be cut oft". 

Of course the appearance of Weyler introduced a 
new order of things. The Cubans who had means to 




COCOANUT PAI,M. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. ' 417 

keep them alive on the voyage to Mexico, South Amer- 
ica, or other islands, or the United States, fled in thou- 
sands to avoid the dread mysterious criminality attrib- 
uted to the new captain-general. The greatest panic 
was concerning the stringent measures anticipated from 
him to compel the Cubans to be active for or against 
Spain, and this meant persecution, confiscation, perhaps 
execution, and as a choice of evils exile was preferred. 

It soon appeared that General Weyler held in reserve 
his dreadful reputation, and that the first chapter was to 
have some mercy and hint of conciliation in it, but 
the scattered Spanish soldiers were hunted up and 
I'ushed to the front. There was intelligence and en- 
ergy in his administration, and the show of success in 
rolling back the rebels then largely in the west end, 
and most dangerous there — gave the general encour- 
agement — and he congratulated himself that he was 
driving the enemy eastward and had them already in 
the southeast of Matanzas instead of in the southeast 
and centre of Pinar del Rio, where he had found them; 
and at this juncture came the hopeful anticipation that 
" the planters might grind," as they phrase it in Cuba, 
"with safety by the 15th of March." There was not 
quite a proclamation of this, but there was a positive 
and a confident expectation. 

The insurgent's answer soon came. It was evident 
that the way to recruit the rebel columns was to stop 
work in the fields on the tobacco as well as on the cane 
plantations, and the war in the west took the form of a 
general strike — one may say a sympathetic strike — 
and as this was just the time for cutting tobacco which 
was giving signals of the coming blossoms, every hand 
was a treasure and each day was precious. The strike 



41 8 THE STORY OF CUBA, 

was ruin to the tobacco men, Labor got on horseback 
and rode away with the raiders. Soon it became evi- 
dent that, instead of the resumption of the sugar indus- 
try, there was an end to tobacco raising while the war 
raged. 

Instead of gathering the tobacco in those far-famed 
regions where the leaf is good as gold and has the 
flavor the world knows and pays for so well, the fields 
were trampled and the torch was applied to the tobacco 
as well as the sugar houses. Maceo, instead of being 
"Oriented," rode from province to province for a few 
weeks and reappeared in the west. Then the torch 
answered Weyler in the sugar fields, and the fiery storm 
of desolation of the island by the Cubans to impoverish 
the Spaniards, and by the Spaniards to deprive the 
Cubans of shelter and food, set in, both sides succeed- 
ing. There is a crisis in the favored industries, and the 
gaunt wolf of hunger is at the doors of the people. 

The insurgents are reinforced, and it is war to the 
knife and pistol as well as with the torch and rifle. 
The deathless tenacity with which Maceo adheres to 
the west end, implies understanding with him that he 
should be supplied by his friends in the United States 
with food and cartridges. The Spanish captain-general 
has thrown all his available battalions on the trocha at 
the narrowest part of the Island, a few miles west of 
Havana, and it is his theory that he has the insurgent 
leader in a trap, and the gunboats are swarming around 
the coast of Pinar del Rio to cut off help from the sea, 
while the Bermuda sails away at high speed, equipped 
for a sea fight if necessary, and we are told that the in- 
surgent bands are moving westward to take advantage 
of Spanish forces on the trocha beyond Havana, de- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTt. 419 

termined at all hazards to make a diversion to relieve 
Maceo of a part of the pressure of the overwhelming 
force thrown against him. 

There is a military crisis, therefore, coincident with that 
of the agricultural industries, and of the commercial in- 
terests associated with the Island, and the finances of 
Spain. Still more, there is the political crisis signalized by 
the appointment of General Fitz-Hugh Lee to be consul- 
general of Cuba, for this must mean something more than 
ordinary business. General Lee is not the consul-general 
merely, but truly a plenipotentiary-extraordinary. He 
has the situation to study on behalf of the president of 
the United States, particularly the military positions and 
prospects, and the social and political aspects. This is 
the confession of the president and his cabinet that they 
are perplexed by the conflict of testimony ; and they feel 
the gravest responsibility, and are anxious for the whole 
truth. 

There has been a great deal said in Congress that 
was not of clear signification, and the purpose of which 
was evidently obscure to the orators themselves. There 
appeared in the Congressional Record of March 2, how- 
ever, the speech of Senator White of California, which 
was exceptional. It was authenticated with informa- 
tion, and there was in its construction and tone the evi- 
dence to all students of the law and the facts, that the 
senator was in close touch and sympathy with the 
executive authority. This speech, there is no reason- 
able question, defined in the last week of February the 
conception of duty for the administration, and it has 
not been perceptibly modified even by the passage of 
the concurrent resolution of the houses of Congress, 
which was followed by a curiously complacent calm. 



420 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Senator White said all senators sympathized with the 
struggling patriots of Cuba, and would rejoice to see 
them govern themselves. The proceedings of Congress 
should be orderly, in accordance with the customs of 
enlightened nations, and if the subject was approached 
through concurrent resolution, designed to be of itself 
effective as a declaration of belligerency, the constitu- 
tion required such resolution to be joint, not concur- 
rent. If there was to be a declaration made announ- 
cing belligerency, it would have no effect, unless pre- 
sented to the president, and it was doubtful whether it 
would have any effect, unless actually approved by 
him. We quote the senator : 

I affirm that the question of the recognition of the existence of a rev- 
olutionary government is vested in the Executive. Whether this power 
is exclusive it is unnecessary to decide, though I shall allude incident- 
ally to this phase. When the senator from Alabama stated that he de- 
nied the power of the Executive, unaided by Congressional action, to 
recognize the belligerency, it seems to me that his statement was unsup- 
ported by precedent or reason. I cannot find any other authority for it. 
True, Mr. President, a joint resolution, signed by the President of the 
United States, recognizing belligerency, would operate, if not by virtue 
of the action of Congress, certainly so, because it was approved by the 
Executive. I do not find it necessary to contend that Congress cannot 
pass a bill recognizing belligerency over the veto of the Executive. I can 
find no such instance, however. I trust that no conflict of that nature 
will ever arise. 

What is the effect of a declaration of belligerency ? Is it anything, 
when properly made, to which a nation has a right to take exception ? 
Manifestly not. In such an instance we assert neutrality. The Presi- 
dent of the United States issues his proclamation, declaring that this 
country will stand hands off; that we will not interfere. It is not a proc- 
lamation of war, it is a proclamation of peace; it is not an announcement 
of interference; it is an announcement of non-interference; it is not 
opening ourselves to the charge that we are attempting to injure a 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 421 

friendly nation, but it means that we have concluded that there are con- 
tending parties whose armed conflict is sufificiently important to be dig- 
nified by the term war, and that we will remain impartial spectators. 
But, on the other hand, recognition of the independence of a revolution- 
ary country is often the subject of vigorous protest. 

It passes without saying, that no nation is rudely dismembered, save 
after vigorous contest and exhaustive effort. The history of our coun- 
try demonstrates that we have never recognized the independence of a 
state which has successfully revolted without subjecting ourselves to the 
criticisms of the mother-country. There is much more danger, much 
more probability of conflict with a foreign power, in consequence of the 
recognition of the independence of a revolted government, than when we 
merely recognize belligerency. No nation can be expected to contem- 
plate with satisfaction the loss of her possessions, and, unlike the able 
senator from Alabama, I regard the power to recognize independence, 
which he concedes to be in the Executive, as much more important than 
the authority to recognize belligerency, which he denies to the Execu- 
tive. Said Secretary Seward, in a letter to Mr. Adams, our minister to 
England (i Messages and Documents, 1861-62, page 79) : 

" To recognize the independence of a new state, and so favor, possi- 
bly determine, its admission into the family of nations, is the highest 
possible exercise of sovereign power, because it affects in every case the 
welfare of two nations, and often the peace of the world." 



But if it be true that the msurgents in Cuba have the same right to 
procure arms and supplies under the present condition of affairs, as they 
would if the United States recognized them as belligerents, where is the 
vast importance attributed to this recognition ? What privileges would 
they thus obtain ? Outside of a certain moral advantage, the sole theo- 
retical benefit would be a curtailment of the rights of Spain. As it is 
now, the insurgents have no national status, and Spain is not prohibited 
from coming to our ports and arming her vessels, and she may fit out 
military expeditions here, or take any steps competent to her in normal 
times. In the event of recognition Spain would be also liable under our 
neutrality statute. That is one advantage which would accrue to Cuba 
in consequence of belligerency. But, practically, what would this amount- 
to ? Spain is not engaged in fitting out expeditions in this country. 
There is no sympathy for her here. She can procure no men to enlist 
in her cause; she can obtain no aid and comfort in America. She may, 



422 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



like her foes, buy supplies and arms in our markets, but that is her right 
in any event. Thus it will be seen that but little benefit can follow 
even effective action for recognition. 

What potency accompanies any resolution that we may adopt ? We 
all desire to see Cuba liberated, but how can she achieve her independ- 
ence except through her own efforts ? If our government were not care, 
ful in the enforcement of her neutrality laws, perhaps the insurgent cause 
might advance more rapidly. If these people were more carefully ad- 
vised there would not, I am persuaded, be serious difficulty in getting 
much-needed ammunition and other war material, but expeditions can- 
not be fitted out here, nor can men enlist for hostile service, and arm 
ships in our waters for warlike enterprise. No one proposes that we 
shall declare war against Spain, and unless we do so the excited lan- 
guage daily repeated here is not appropriate. 

Mr. President, our wishes are for Cuban freedom, but can we accom- 
plish this by mere naked declaration ? Senators have condemned Spain, 
and have criticized her policies with severity, but all this is futile. We 
should appreciate the truth that we cannot peaceably, or with due re- 
spect for international obligations, go further than sympathetic expres- 
sion. If the president determines to announce that the Cubans in revolt 
are entitled to the rights of war, they will still be subject to sections 
5,283-5,286 of the Revised Statutes of the United States. This would 
be true if Cuban independence were recognized by us, and must remain 
true while war lasts. Our declaration of neutrality itself implies that we 
will vigorously enforce the law as against all parties to the contest. We 
are in honor bound to do so. It is well to keep these facts before us. 
All should remember that in no way can we relieve the people of Cuba 
from the effect of our neutrality laws unless we boldly deny Spain's right, 
and ourselves take charge of the issue and declare war. 

In the course of his remarks, the senator referred to 
the record of the president, December 8, 1885, with ref- 
erence to the Colombian difficulty, and he quoted many- 
passages of pertinent and instructive history, after which 
he proceeded: 

To assert here by resolution that the Cuban people have accomplished 
their independence, when we know they have not accomplished it, when 
we kriow they are endeavoring to accomplish it, when we know they are 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 42 3 

making every effort to attain to that condition, wiien we know that it is 
an unrealized hope, would be to write ourselves down as anything but 
reasonable men. 

Certainly, a declaration of that kind would not have any satisfactory 
effect. It would be an announcement here in the form of a resolution 
of that which we should know is untrue. 

Experiencing none but the kindest sentiments toward Cuba, I will not 
be a party to the new departure favored by the senator from Missouri 
(Mr. Vest), when in my judgment such conduct would be wholly unpro- 
voked and unwarranted. A concurrent resolution, by whomsoever of- 
fered, or whatever it may contain, is nothing more than an expression of 
sympathy. As stated by the senator from Missouri, it will not, and as 
I have attempted to show, by its own force it cannot, directly accomplish 
anything for Cuba. 

A senator who has pressed with much force the pending independ- 
ence resolution, said that we might as well abandon the Monroe doc- 
trine if we do not recognize Cuba; but if that doctrine has any applica- 
tion to Cuba at all, it would seem that under it we must keep our hands 
off, because, as I have already said, Mr. Monroe's words are, " With 
the existing colonies or dependencies of any European power we have not 
interfered, and shall not interfere." To this declaration we have very 
lately given our unqualified support I shall not vote for a rec- 
ognition of the independence of Cuba, first, because I do not believe 
that it is our function, without Executive participation, to recognize 
either the belligerency or independence of any nation; secondly, because 
I do not think that independence has been achieved within the rules 
mentioned, or at all, and I am unwilling to declare that a certain condi- 
tion exists when I know to the contrary. 

The appointment of a man of the character and at- 
tainments and environments of General Lee, two 
months after Senator White's speech, announces that the 
administration is still anxious and making inquiries, 
pursuing as it may the lines of investigation open to it, 
and sensible of the Cuban crisis that is industrial, com- 
mercial, financial, social, military, and political. 

It interests many though, to seek to find an easy way 
of avoiding the realization of the critical state of the 



424 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Island, for they do not care to take full cognizance of 
the fact that a people are perishing, a once flourishing 
civilization on American soil, in the course of blotting 
itself out. The people of Cuba are not in danger of 
being conquered. The conditions forbid that, but they 
may fall into a poverty so depressing, and be ruined so 
completely, that a state of semi-barbarism may ensue. 

The Spaniards steadily contend that the revolution 
in Cuba v^^ill cause a second and greater San Domingo, 
and point out the prominence of the Maceos as a 
proof that the insurrection is a negro revolt. They 
misrepresent the case, but it is true that the wealth that 
has accumulated in the Island shall pass away in fire, 
and that a generation may be required in restoration. 

The Cubans and Spaniards, and all the enlightened 
people of the nations of the earth are concerned to 
know what we, the people of the United States, may 
have it in our hearts and hands to do. 

There is that which is fortunate in the appointment 
of General Lee to be consul-general at Havana — and 
more, the personal representative of the president 
and cabinet. He is not a stranger in Cuba, having vis- 
ited Havana when governor of Virginia. There is one 
very important aspect in which it is well that he is a 
Southern man, and it is not that having once taken up 
arms against the country of which he is now the repre- 
sentative, he may not be expected to regard rebels with 
sentimental severity, even if there is something in that ; 
but it is that as a man, raised in the presence and sur- 
rounded by the influences of African slavery, he has ex- 
pert knowledge of colored people and their relations to 
the white people, and what he says of the relations and 
influence of that race in Cuba will have weight. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 4^5 

No man of greater facilities, to judge from informa- 
tion and inherent understanding of racial diversities, 
contentions and disposition, could be found; and he will 
be able to testify with confidence that the Cuban re- 
volt is not a negro insurrection, and to disabuse the 
American mind on that subject. 

James Creelman, the correspondent who denounced 
the butchery of the Chinese by victorious Japanese sol- 
diers at the taking of Port Arthur, sends from Havana 
lists of the names of peaceable men who have been 
slaughtered by Spanish soldiers near Havana, and says 
the shock which cracked the massive walls of the palace 
was ''the first answer of the Cuban nation to the Span- 
ish campaign of massacre of unarmed, peaceable inhab- 
itants of the interior." 

The report of wholesale murder is made upon per- 
sonal investigation, and announced with the opinion 
that it is impossible General Weyler could be informed, 
and continues : " Everywhere the breadwinners of Cuba 
are fleeing in terror before the Spanish columns, and the 
ranks of life are being turned into ranks of death, for the 
Cuban who has seen his honest and harmless neighbors 
tied up and shot before his eyes, in order that some of- ■ 
ficer may get credit for a battle, takes his family to the 
nearest town or city for safety, and then goes out to 
strike a manly blow for his country." 

• The witnesses of butcheries shrink and erow silent, 
and are dumb with fright when questioned, and if these 
stories are true, there never was a land of serpents and 
wild beasts and savages where death ever lurked so 
near. 

While the economic questions are being considered, 
Mr. Creelman says: "The insurgents are turning the 



426 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Island into a waste of ashes, and the Spanish soldiers 
are slaughtering non-combatants." A responsible 
planter tells that within three weeks several laboring 
men have been shot by the roadside on his premises. 
This man is responsible in the sense of reliability — not 
that he would dare to tell the truth in public, for he 
would sacrifice his life if he did. The highway east of 
Havana is crowded with fugitives reporting murders — 
fourteen inoffensive men tied up and shot the other day 
near Guariabacoa and " the sentries on limits of the towns 
refuse to allow any outsider to go where he is likely to 
witness the work of the firing squad. Guanabacoa is 
packed with bewildered and half-starved country peo- 
ple. Many of them sleep in the streets." 

The personal investigations of Mr. Creelman were as 
to " the following peaceable white men who were shot 
without trial at Campo Florida, near Havana, on the 
afternoon of April 3d." 

Margarita Zarzas, aged twenty-four years, single, blacksmith and car- 
penter. 

Ramon Castellanos, single, aged thirty-three years, poultry dealer. 

Joaquin Medina, aged forty-five years, married, farmer. 

Camilo Cejas, aged twenty-five years, single, fisherman. 

Jose I. Cejas, aged twenty-eight years, married, fisherrnan. 

Manuel Martinez, aged thirty-eight years, married, farmer. 

Domingo Lugones, aged thirty-five, single, native of Montevideo, Uru- 
guay. 

Jesus Ochoa Rodriguez, twenty-five years, single, blacksmith. 

These names are not given on the evidence of one 
man, for they had been communicated to the country 
by the United Press. 

Between April 13 and 22, says Mr. Creelman, and he 
is the first to state the fact, the following peaceful in- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 427 

habitants were taken from their homes and shot on the 
Fierabras road between Campo Florida and Minas : 

Margarito Verole, a farmer's boy, fourteen years old. 
M. V. Collina, aged forty-four years, married, merchant. 
J. Caballin, aged forty-five years, married, merchant. 
Benigno Galloso, aged forty years, single, farmer. 
A son of Galloso, aged twenty-five years, single. 
Eduardo Sardenes, aged thirty-seven, married. 
Cruz Ferrer, forty-two years, married, farmer. 
Inocente' Rabell, forty years, married, cheesemaker. 
Florencio Rabell, thirty-six years, single, cheesemaker. 
Basilio E. Rubio, forty-six years, married, farmer. 
Eleno Guerra, thirty-three years, married, farmer. 

The victims were all white. Their bodies were 
thrown into a huge sugar boiler, which lies half buried 
on the roadside on the land owned by J. Cabrera. 

Here is a list of white men shot without trial in the 
same neighborhood, opposite the Jesus Maria grocery 
store, on the Arango estate. 

Martin Sosa, single, farmer. 

Andres Guillama, and his assistant, both married and farmers. 
Francisco Diaz and son, farmers. 
Leonardo Llerena, farmer. 
Luz Gutierrez and son, farmers. 
Caridad Reyes, farmer. 
Francisco Ferrer, farmer. 
Benito Bueno, farmer. 

Julio Hernandez, father of twelve children, farmer. 
Abelardo Cartaya, farmer, and three others whose names I cannot as- 
certain at present moment. 

Most of these were taken from their ploughs. The 
following non-combatants were also shot without trial, 
and thrust into the sugar boiler on the highway in 
Minas : 



428 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Mr. Macho, a mulatto, seventy-one years old. 

Timoteo Ceferino, son of the foregoing, aged seventeen. 

Castellanos, thirty-five years, married, arrested on his way to Havana 

market. 
Matias Darias, arrested on his way home after selling his goods. 
Juan Machina, married, farmer. 

This is indeed a chapter from another "Book of 
Blood," and this terrible story continues with the state- 
ment of an eye witness of the shooting of the eight men 
whose names are in the first list above ; " these eight 
men were arrested on April ist and 2d by Lieut. Sequi, 
assisted by two soldiers and a municipal guard, who 
has since been hanged by the insurgents. They were 
all innocent, hard-working people. I saw the soldiers 
tie their arms and take them to the police station. 
Margarito Zarzas, who was arrested just after he had 
completed a coffin for a woman, was dragged to the 
station with a rope around his neck. I was told that 
the prisoners were beaten, but I did not see that. 
Next day the nine prisoners were marched to a small 
fort made of loose bricks on a hill overlooking the rail- 
way track. I heard that they were to be put on a train 
at 1.30 o'clock in the afternoon and carried to Havana, 
and I went to the track to see my neighbors depart. 
As I approached the railway I saw Lieut. Sequi and two 
soldiers hurrying towards the little fort on horseback. 

" When I advanced I could see a double rank of Span- 
ish soldiers of the Princesa Battalion, stretching from 
the foot of the hill on which the fort stands across the 
track to a small gully about seven feet deep. Beyond 
the gully is a large cedar tree, and between them was 
a freshly-dug trench. It made my blood run cold. I 
knew what the trench was for. To the right of the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 429 

gully was a line of soldiers. Presently I saw the two 
Cejas brothers leave the fort surrounded by soldiers. 
They w^ere taken across the track between the double 
ranks and down into the gully out of my sight. Then 
I heard a volley fired in the gully. I ran home and or- 
dered my wife to conceal the children and lock the 
doors of ray house. 

"The screaming of the prisoners in the fort, who had 
heard the volley, induced me to approach the track 
again. This time I saw Domingo Lugonez and Mar- 
garito Zarzas brought down the hill. They were tied 
together. Lugonez was crying. I could hear him 
scream again and again : ' For the sake of your own 
mothers don't kill me! Have pity on me! Oh, my 
good mother, my poor mother ! For God's sake don't 
kill me ! ' 

" The prisoners were driven into the gully, and again I 
heard a volley. After that I stayed with my children. 
We could hear other volleys as each of the prisoners 
was taken out and shot. Then the train arrived from 
Havana, and just before it reached the village I heard 
two quick volleys and two single shots. That day I 
left the place with my family. The troops were killing 
all my neighbors. 

"The orders are given by the military commandant of 
Minas, whose name is Narciso de Fondesviela. This is 
a plain statement of the facts. On the next day the 
official reports declared that the Spanish troops at 
Campo Florida had ambushed a body of insurgents and 
killed ten of them without losing a man. 

"Four days ago the soldiers shot Jose Flores, a mar- 
ried farmer, and Feliciano Sosa, married, carpenter, 
thirty-eight years old, and also threw their bodies into 



43<^ THE STORY OP CUBA. 

the boiler. Since then the troops have been forced to dig 
a trench for the corpses, and the odor from the decaying 
bodies in the boiler prevents them from going near it. 

" I have confined my despatch to one little farming 
district close to Havana/ The same stories reach me 
from all parts of the Island. But I have set down 
nothing without investigation. Imagine the scenes in 
the interior. No wonder foreign correspondents are 
not allowed to accompany the Spanish columns and 
are nearly all bottled up in Havana. 

" I take no sides in this war, and have no wish to harm 
the Spanish name. Many of the royal officers are men 
of fine character. But it is time to let the world know 
that America has an Armenia almost within sight of 
her shores." 

While this is under my eye, I receive a letter from 
Havana, written by a man whose name would be 
known to many people in the United States as carrying 
with it the certainty of truthfulness — and he is not a 
Cuban or Cuban sympathizer — mentioning in a casual 
business way, news from a plantation in the vicinity of 
Havana, that several of the servants had been shot — 
among them three elderly black men, when going un- 
armed about the fields attending to their accustomed 
work. This communication, of which no correspondent 
in Havana has the least knowledge — it is from a source 
entirely independent and impartial — and is confirmation 
unimpeachable. 

Here is the bloodiest picture that has been painted, 
and that there is awful truth to life and death in it can 
be read in the lines and between them, and this sort of 
thing has filled the Cubans who are not frightened into 
abjectness, with fighting fire, and they are giving up all 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 431 

hope of preservingr their homes, and are rushing into the 
war. The report is that eight hundred men have within 
a month, in the country in the Havana province and 
nigh the city, "gone to the insurgent army from a dis- 
tance fifteen miles in circumference," and it is added, 
" most of them were armed, but few joined the patriot 
forces with nothing but heavy sticks." 

It is stated that, in the first week of May, there ap- 
peared in New York a number of Havana business men 
seeking to deal with the Cuban junta to secure a pause 
in hostihties, for the purpose of seeing whether an under- 
standing could be reached that might be enlarged to 
find the basis of an accommodation. This is not im- 
probable, for disasters of the most serious nature are 
impending over Plavana. The crisis must be near, and 
the rigors of military administration will be vainly ex- 
ercised, for the laws of political economy are not sub- 
ject to the orders of captain-generals. 

The Cubans in New York warmly rejected all over- 
tures, saying there was nothing but the recognition of 
the independence of Cuba that would make peace. It 
was claimed the Cubans were near winning the fight, and 
that the Spaniards had never kept faithfully their en- 
gagements. There is repeated the sharp summary of 
the causes of Spain against Cuba, drawn by Senor 
Enrique Jose Verona, ex-deputy of the Spanish Cortes. 

" Spain denies to the Cubans all eff"ective powers in 
their own country. 

" Spain condemns the Cubans to a political inferiority 
in the land where they were born. 

" Spain confiscates the product of the Cubans' labor, 
without giving them in return either safety, prosperity, 

or education. 

c-25 



432 



THE STORY OT CUBA. 



" Spain has shown itself utterly incapable of govern- 
ing Cuba. 

" Spain exploits, impoverishes, and demoralizes Cuba." 
And the business men of Havana are met with this 
passage of a revolutionary manifesto: 

The cause of the ruin of Cuba, despite her sugar output of one mil- 
lion tons and her vast tobacco fields, can be easily explained. Cuba 
does not capitalize, and it does not capitalize because the fiscal regime 
imposed upon the country does not permit it. The money derived from 
its large exportations does not return either in the form of importa- 
tions of goods or of cash. It remains abroad to pay the interest of its 
huge debt, to cover the incessant remittances of funds by the Spaniards 
who hasten to send their earnings out of the country, to pay from our 
treasury the pensioners who live in Spain, and to meet the drafts for- 
warded by every mail from Cuba by the Spaniards as a tribute to their 
political patrons in the metropolis, and to help their families. 

Cuba pays $2,192,795 in pensions to those on the retired list and to 
superannuated officials not in service. Most of the money is exported. _ 

Also with this often repeated and undisputed disposi- 
tion of Cuba revenue: 

Interest on part of Spanish national debt $10,500,000 

Spanish army and navy 6,900,000 

Government of the Island 4,036,000 

Pensions, Monts-de-Piete, etc 2,000,000 

Justice 995>°°° 

Public treasury 708,000 

Public works 588,000 

Public instruction (superior) ^ 182,200 

Common schools ! o 



525,909,200 



Of this, it is the Cuban claim, sixty-six per cent, of 
the taxes in the Island goes to the peninsula, as plainly 
as if sent off in treasure ships in the old style. 




DESTRUCTION OF RAILROAD TRAIN BY DYNAMITE 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



435 



When it is considered that the Spanish " reforms, " 
that were withheld, as we are often told, because the 
insurrection broke forth, were unreal — did not change 
the fact that the only actual authority was adjusted to 
remain in Spain — no true home rule even attempted, 
and the policy of massacre is carried out while business 
men confer — the impossibility of advancing peace meas- 
ures is demonstrated, and the horrors of the situation 
appear the more vividly. 

The dreadful narratives thrust upon our attention 
emphasize the deadly nature of the Cuban crisis. There 
is a culmination of horrors. The wretched fugitives from 
the bloody fields and country houses in ashes are hasten- 
ing wildly to Havana and other cities and the towns, flee- 
ing from murder and famine, to sleep and wander in the 
unclean streets, to meet the pestilence. How the car- 
nival of blood, the massacres that are called combats, 
and the exterminating assassinations are to be prevented, 
in any way moderated, or even their increase checked, 
is a question as difficult as the situation is deplorable. 
The presideni; is called upon to take action. It is not 
his duty to declare war, with Congress in session, but 
he must have enough evidence before him to authorize 
the most serious representations by our consul-general 
to the captain-general of Cuba, and by the minister to 
Spain to the government of that country ; and it will 
not be sufficient for the Spanish general in command to 
discredit all the news of an unofficial character that 
comes from Cuba, or for the Spanish government to 
refuse to listen to offers of good offices from the United 
States, and to go on speaking of their inflexible pride 
and indomitable purpose. 

We know enough about that. We know well that 



436 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

more than forty years ago Spain was hard-pressed in 
the course of the Osfend conference poUcy, and that 
it did become her dignity then to decHne to accept 
our suCTorestions. We are aware that it was the rio^ht of 
Spain to refuse to sell her last great American posses- 
sion, and she could dothatagain without justly incurring 
our ill will We are aware of the false representations 
that were made of the Lopez and the Virginius affairs 
by the filibusters were countenanced in this country 
— but that was chiefly on account of the inhumanity, 
the savagry of the shooting of prisoners by scores — 
but we remember General Prim, when ruler of Spain, 
treated representations from our government that his 
country might advantageously give up Cuba, with 
calm consideration, no display whatever of indignation. 
We know how frantic the Spaniards grow at the thought 
that we want Cuba, and with what insanity they assert 
that she is their own affair, and they will never tol- 
erate any interference. 

We beg pardon, but maybe they will ! It is possible 
that they must. Cuba is an American island — the 
American island — and we, the United States are the 
great American power, and have some rights that are 
imperial, and we can assert them in a spirit of justice, 
and a potentiality that there is no power on the 
earth that can hinder. ^ We know it is the most familiar 
thing outside our country in the history of this hemis- 
phere — Spain has parted with her enormous American 
colonies, from Chili to California, and we speak within 
bounds in saying, because she was incapable of fair play 
to colonists. She would rule them as she has ruled 
Cuba, and has therefore lost the positiiin in the world 
that her American possessions would have given her, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 437 

through her implacable injustice, her irrational and un- 
appeasable greed. We know, too, that Spain gave up 
the Floridas to us, and that she once was the proprietor 
of all the ample shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and they 
are all gone from her but Cuba, standing a sorrowful, 
reproachful, solitary sentinel, the sombre, needless guard- 
ian of the gate of the lost empire. Now, shall she cling 
with defiant desperation forever to this final fragment of 
what was the Spanish world, and is now a mournful mon- 
ument of misgovernment and misfortune, and assert the 
right to murder a people who refuse to be the servants 
of her servants, and jeer at us that we have no right of 
humanity to protest — we the nearest neighbor and pre- 
dominant power — no privilege of Christianity or chiv- 
alry, to see that a race born on American soil shall 
not perish from the earth at the hands of carpet-baggers 
from over the sea, who refuse all forms of self govern- 
ment, to those they have oppressed for generations ? 
Cannot some Spanish statesman rise with the will and 
the force to save his own country from the ruin that is 
impending for Spain ? Shall she commit suicide because 
Cuba is not to be hers again ? 

Spain is stumbling down a dark and bloody road to 
her doom, and she should find in herself the manliness 
and wisdom to preserve her from the inevitable conse- 
quences of a relentless resolution to avenge herself upon 
her children, because they resent her stupid and woeful 
tyranny, and resist, torch and knife in hand, the policy 
of massacre that threatens to be the most hideous chap- 
ter of human crime and misery. There is frivolous talk 
in Spain of war with the United States. We would not 
be boastful of ability to assert ourselves, because Spain 
is a weak power ; but we may, in a war becoming 



438 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

barbarous, interpose with the preservation of our own 
equipoise, to command the peace ; and we may close 
the crisis in peace, if we rise to the occasion, ready with 
the sword and the supreme moral force that has accepted 
the challenge of fate and the duty of destiny. Thus 
we shall impose no calamity on any one, but give relief 
to Spain, freedom to Cuba, and dignity and glory to 
ourselves. We are the true and competent America. 
We need shed no drop of blood — for the price of peace 
and honor, for us and for all in this crisis, is the courage 
that accepts the hazard of taking the fateful responsi- 
bility with absolute resolution. 

THE CURRENCY CRISIS. 

There is a currency crisis impending in Cuba. The 
money measure thus far has been the ounce of gold. 
The Spanish gold is not so fine as the American, and, 
therefore, United States gold there commands a pre- 
mium over Spanish gold — hence the humor of buying a 
small article, paying in a half eagle, and getting a Span- 
ish five dollar gold-piece and some silver change in re- 
turn. Spanish gold is at a premium over silver, and 
there has been no paper money. The Spanish five dollar 
piece is the current measure. A bill in a shop or hotel 
is settled in Spanish gold, and if paid in American gold 
there is something coming on every dollar, and if the 
payment is in silver, a number of dollars, equal to 
the sum named in the bill does not go until the 
premium is added. The ounce of gold, 900 fine, may 
be styled the unit, and there are close calculations in 
paying bills. There has not been a scrap of paper 
money in circulation in Cuba, but there is to be an 
issue of notes, and the public are apprehensive, and not 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY 439 

at all pleased with the probability, as they remember 
that the paper floated during the last war was not re- 
deemed at par, and that its fluctuations in value were 
exceedingly annoying. In the United States, where a 
dollar is one hundred cents, and where paper, gold, sil- 
ver, nickel and copper money are absolutely on a par, 
many people do not realize the discomfort of a fluctu- 
ating currency. The present condition of money there 
should particularly interest the free silver advocates of 
the United States. 

Nobody can tell now at what rate the paper money 
to be issued will pass, but it certainly will not be the 
same as either gold or silver. 

A Havana correspondent gives this interesting article : 
"The monetary unit here is the peso, which takes the 
form of a large silver piece, about the same size as an 
American dollar. It is divided into five pesetas, each 
presumably worth twenty centavos, or cents. The real 
— worth ten centavos — is the smallest silver piece in 
circulation, as the half reals have been withdrawn. The 
centavos are big, clumsy, copper coins, much larger than 
American cents. The smallest gold coin now issued 
by the Spanish mint is the centen — on which is stamped 
the announcement that it is worth twenty-five pesetas, 
five pesos. As gold is at a premium here and silver at 
a discount, the values do not agree. The centen is 
worth from $6 to $6.io in silver, and as much as $6.43 
in copper money, but no ordinary man would think of 
getting change in copper, as he would have to hire a 
pack mule to take it home, and then he would have to 
get rid of it in driblets, as cabmen object to taking 
twenty cents in copper, and small merchants do like- 
wise, preferring silver and insisting upon getting it. 



440 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

"The gold centen has a premium of six percent., and 
the coin passes for $5.30 everywhere. Ten centens are 
always $53 for the purchase of articles in local busi- 
ness houses, though importing merchants pay for their 
goods abroad without getting a premium. All large 
bills are payable in gold, and the hotels and restaur- 
ants always specify that the prices given for food 
and drinks are in gold. The fact is that in paying for 
food and drinks in cash, silver is taken ; if the bill is 
paid at the end of the week the guest loses money. 
For convenience, merchants count the value of the 
centen as $6 in silver; that is if you see an article in a 
shop window marked $2.50 gold, that means that you 
pay on the basis of $6 silver for the centen. 

"The small shops get very little gold. Their prices 
are for silver, but when they pay the wholesaler they 
must get gold. The result is exchange offices all over 
the city — dozens of them around the markets and main 
centres of trade. To these Casas de Cambio men go 
to have their centens turned into silver. The prices of 
the day are usually posted on the outside, and some- 
times there is a difference of a cent or two between 
neighboring places. In the last month the price has 
ranged from $6.04 to $6.08, varying every day, accord- 
ing to the demand. Money brokers all announced 
that they will pay more for large quantities of centens. 

" Naturally, the chief sufferer is the laborer, who is 
paid in silver, and who loses all the way through the 
transaction. Prices of small things are extraordinarily 
high, even considering the small value of the money. 
For instance, Rocquefort cheese brings 80 centavos a 
pound, American soda crackers 45 centavos a pound 
box, American caramels, cheapest grade, one peso a 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 44 1 

pound ; draught beer ten centavos a glass, American, 
German, or English beer or ale, 35 to 40 cents a bottle, 
and so on all the way through. Washing is a very 
expensive item in a hot climate, where constant changes 
of linen are necessary. The hotel laundries charge 25 
centavos for shirts and nightshirts, ten cents for cuffs, 
and five for collars. 

"Money was never so scarce in Havana as it is to-day, 
and yet the capital suffers less in proportion than any 
other point on the Island. One effect of the war has 
been to concentrate the population almost entirely in 
the larger cities ; whole hamlets have been deserted 
and laid in ruins by one side or the other for fear that 
the enemy would utilize the houses ; rich men have 
become poor and homeless, workmen have been sud- 
denly deprived of all means of earning a livelihood; 
the supply of provisions has been cut down every- 
where, and prices of food have increased, A large pro- 
portion of the residences are offered to let, and hand- 
some houses could be obtained now for a mere fraction 
of the money they formerly brought. Many large 
business houses have already closed their doors, and 
others have decreased their force of clerks, reduced the 
salaries of those retained, and even at the present basis 
find there is no profit, and contemplate giving up until 
times are better. Outgoing steamers continue crowded 
with passengers, while those that arrive are practically 
empty. Beggars spring up at every step in the streets, 
with tales of starvation and misery — one hears of nothing 
but poverty." 

The appearance of paper money will be regarded in 
Havana as another symptom that the decline of the old 
order has reached the fallingr state, 



442 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The cause of the crisis in Cuba, deeper even than the 
antiquated economy that discriminates against natives 
in their own country, or tlie demonstrably unjust taxa- 
tion — the corrupt intolerance by the foreign office-hold- 
ing class, and all the list of vindictive discrimination 
by the peninsular powers against the producers of the 
Island, is displayed in a striking characterization of the 
contending races, by A. Gallenger, in his work, " The 
Pearl of the Antilles," published in London in 1873. 
Gallenger says : 

The real bane of social life in Havana lies in the deep-seated and 
hardly smothered animosity of race, one and the same race, yet irrecon- 
cilably divided against itself. There is no hatred in the world to be 
compared to that of the Cuban for Spain, and everything Spanish. 
The Creole conceives that he alone is entitled to breathe the balmy air 
of his tropical Island, and plainly intimates that he longs for the day 
in which he shall be rid of the Spanish, and of every other alien in- 
truder coming here to suck the very life-blood from his veins. The 
peninsular or native Spaniard, who, in order to make things as he wishes, 
thinks that it is enough for him to declare that they are so, never men- 
tions Cuba without calling it " this emphatically Spanish Island." He 
flatters himself that he has crushed the Creole, and affects to ignore him. 
The worst is, that to a stranger's eye the split is nowhere apparent; the 
line of demarcation is not visibly drawn. The Guelph and Ghibelline 
go past with no outward distinction, showing no symptom of the enmity 
which may at every moment array them in hostile camps. There is no 
open insurrection within more than 100 miles of Havana; there has been 
no serious disturbance in the town since the bloody execution of March, 
187 1. But there is avast amount of plot and intrigue fatal to all loyal, 
social, and even domestic, intercourse; a depth of simulation and dis- 
simulation, of spoken and acted lies, not to be fathomed by a stranger 
on a mere superficial survey. The Peninsular is sure of the day; the 
Cuban is confident of the morrow. The Spaniard relies on brute strength; 
the Cuban puts his trust in superior intelligence. Between the insur- 
gent bands in the fields, and their patriot associates in Havana, there is 
incessant, and by no means unenterprising, communication. The un- 
derground war is going on in every street, and almost in every house, in 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 443 

this city. The Spaniard fancies he can afford to treat the Creole with 
ineffable disdain. He taunts him with cowardice and unthrift. He looks 
upon him as a degenerate being, incapable of overt action, of manly 
resolution, and, perhaps, he is safe enough in Havana itself. But the 
Cuban bides his time. He reckons on the chapter of accidents, on the 
chronic disorders of the mother-country, on the sympathies of the Amer- 
ican Union, of Mexico, of the Central and South American republics, 
where the name of Spain is as heartily execrated as in the camp of Ces- 
pedes himself; and, above all things, on the deluge that must needs ensue 
upon any attempt at the solution of the fatal slavery question. The 
Creole of the city is certainly a weakly, rickety, frivolous creature, dis- 
tinguishable by his long, scraggy neck and thin, fluted legs, addicted to 
indolent habits and enervating pleasures, trained by long schooling to 
abject submission, destitute of all energy; but there is, as he knows, 
better stuff among his brethren of the rural population. The Cuban 
travels and learns, and throughout the Island education is more gener- 
ally spread than among the ruling race, especially among the lower 
classes of prejudiced and bigoted peninsular immigrants. The Spanish 
settlers own very nearly the mass of the landed property, and of the 
movable wealth of the country: they have the lion's share of the trade 
of Havana in their hands, partly in consequence of their superior thrift 
and activity, but in a great measure owing to the privileges and monop- 
olies awarded to them by a partial, grasping, and unscrupulous adminis- 
tration. The fortune accumulated by the peninsular father not infre- 
quently goes to wreck and ruin in the hands of his improvident creole 
progeny. Still, the base of the peninsular prosperity, both agricultural 
and commercial, rests on slavery; and the creole thinks, not unreason- 
ably, that with the abolition of slave-labor a new balance of fortune will 
have to be established, in which all the chances will be in his own 
favor. 

It is remarkable that at the time this was pubhshed 
(1873) slavery had already passed away, though the 
formal abolition of the institution had not been per- 
fected. The Spanish influence exerted by Martinez 
Campos was for ending slavery, and, no doubt, the an- 
ticipation was that the free blacks would prefer the 
Spaniards to the Creoles. One of Captain -General 



444 '^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

Weyler's moves, in the first days of his supreme author- 
ity, was to invite the friendliness of the black people. 
The black rebels are among the bravest of the fighters 
for freedom, and the disappointed and angry Spaniards 
speak of the " negro insurrection." 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 445 



CHAPTER XXV. 

THE DESTINY OF CUBA. 

A Personal Word — Account of a Mysterious Missionary — Comparison of 

Campos and Weyler — Spain has Lost Cuba — The Destiny of the 

Pearl of Islands is to be one of our Stars — Gentlemen are Rebels — • 

V The Volunteers as Business Men — Cubans Worthy to be our Fellow 

Citizens. 

The destiny of Cuba is in the darkest and deepest 
doubt. The problems to be solved, under afflictions 
the most distressing, are many and profound. 

A personal word may be permitted, as I have to 
express convictions and judgments, and it is but fair the 
reader should know how they were formed. I arrived 
in Cuba with, perhaps, the average American informa- 
tion, opinions, prejudices, feelings, impressions of vari- 
ous degrees of inaccuracy, arising from imperfections 
in the sum of gathered information. 

I remembered that Columbus discovered Cuba, and 
called the island Juana, believed it was a peninsula jut- 
ting out from the continent of Asia, and close to 
Cathay ; that he found a childish race of red-men, who 
perished in slavery, and that black slaves were intro- 
duced ; that Columbus had been sent home in chains 
from Hispaniola, and, dying poor, his remains were 
transported to the Indies he gave to the world ; that 
Cuba was the key of the gulf during the centuries of 
Spanish domination on the shores of that Mediterranean 
Sea ; that in this century the Island has been disturbed 



446 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

by many disastrous troubles, arising from the total 
denial to her people of self-government. 

Of course, I had shared in the American ambition of 
possession, in the conception of our manifest destiny, 
in the regretful remembrance of the tragedies of the 
shooting of Crittenden and of the bloody scenes at San- 
tiago, in the wholesale execution of forty men of the 
expedition of the Virginius ; and the news of the indi- 
cisive ten years' war passed under my eye as the editor 
of a daily paper ; but I could not make out much more 
than a cloud of skirmishes and shadows of questions. 

The fact that war broke out again in the Island in the 
early part of 1895, struck me rather as a revival of dis- 
agreeable memories than a topic of vital interest, and 
there passed dimly a procession of events : Thomas Jef- 
ferson's Louisiana Purchase ; Andrew Jackson's settle- 
ments of all doubts as to the title of the United States 
to the mouth of the Mississippi at New Orleans, Jan. 8, 
181 5; Jackson's hard-handed dealing with the British 
subjects and Spanish officers, when he hanged Arbuth- 
not and Ambruster and seized Pensacola in 181 7, when 
John Quincy Adams was, as secretary of state, his 
friend, and John C. Calhoun's position was at least 
ambiguous. 

The American appetite for Cuba has long been one 
of the facts to be taken into account, and behind it was 
the history that Spain had lost the rest of her American 
colonies ; and the logic of her colonial history was that 
she must part with Cuba, and we should make up our 
minds on the subject. The Americans have been but 
faintly conscious that the reinforcements of provincial 
troops from Connecticut, New York and New Jersey — 
that reached Lord Albemarle before Havana in July, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 447 

1 762 — decided the war when the Enghsh and " Yankees " 
together were the conquerors of Cuba, and in the tre- 
mendous scenes of our conflict of states and sections in 
which slavery passed away, we had almost forgotten 
the Ostend conference, that was a marvel of effrontery, 
designed by President Pierce to yield his administration 
the glory of annexing Cuba — which would have given 
him rank with Jefferson in the acquisition of Louisiana, 
and with Polk, who moved our frontiers to the Rio 
Grande, and swept within our boundaries forever mag- 
nificent California. 

The anxiety to join Cuba to our imperial estate just 
then was to maintain the latest idea of Southern states- 
manship before the fatal spectre of secession arose — the 
balance of power between the North and South recog- 
nized as the primary, fundamental, and unavoidable 
grand divisions of our republic. 

When I landed in Havana my mind was not clear as 
to what there was of evil remaining from the lately 
abolished nistitution of slavery or what was the extent of 
the racial differences. Of course, the white and black 
races in Cuba had not been arrayed in parties opposing 
each other for, owing to the overshadowing power of 
Spain, the government was that substantially of martial 
law, suppressing all native contentions. The question 
seemed open whether the majority of Cubans were black 
or white, and the story of the burning of cane fields, the 
lurid sky south of Plavana, the daring march of Maceo — 
the heavens glowing — the broad and smoking paths of 
the rebel raiders — made a strong suspicion that this 
might be another San Domingo. 

There was and there is something- fascinatinor in be- 
half of Spain in the romance a» well as the history of 



448 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

her relations with the Americas. Cortez and Pizarro 
and De Soto are the early heroes of the continent that 
appeal with the greatest charm to the imagination ; and 
if Spain has been cruel in shooting and slaying the red- 
man, so were our fathers from New England to Mich- 
igan and Kentucky. Spain has made war horrible and 
is not able to separate it from cruelties. More than 
once she has shown herself friendly in her diplomacy. 
The United States recognized the confederates as bel- 
ligerents before the Spaniards did ; and notwithstand- 
ing the just resentment of Spain aroused by the meet- 
ing of Buchanan, Mason and Soule at Ostend and their 
proceedings there, where it was proposed to use the op- 
portunity of the preoccupation of Europe in the Cri- 
mean war to capture Cuba — notwithstanding the singu- 
lar arrogance with which our diplomats insisted while 
Spain herself was shaken by revolution, that she should 
yield to money or to force the Pearl of the Antilles to 
us — after all this — Spain surrendered to us the Vii^- 
giiiius, and General Prim was not pyrotechnic with im- 
passioned pride, but courteous in response to the pointed 
suggestion by President Grant, that the independence 
of Cuba should be recognized. 

The sum of this to my mind was, that after all, there 
had been a good deal of friendly reasonableness in the 
course of Spain toward ourselves. So far as I could 
comprehend the irregular and confused news from 
Cuba for some months after the declaration of the war 
that is in progress, the character and course of it did 
not much differ from the familiar experiences of the 
ten years. There had been rumors of bribery con- 
nected with the adjustment arranged by Campos, that 
closed the hostilities, and also of reform, and it did not 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 449 

seem to be altogether improbable that there might be 
another settlement, on the basis of bribery, an influence 
to which persistent report refers many of the shifts in 
the affairs of Cuba. There was not visible to the naked 
eye of the average citizen any striking fact wa>rranting 
disbelief in the power of Martinez Campos, when he 
arrived in Havana with imposing pomp, to combine 
force of arms with persuasion, and the arrival of Gen- 
eral Pando, with 30,000 men, reinforced the prevalent 
opinion that the Spaniards would win again and go on 
in the old way. 

There was a good deal said in the American Congress 
and newspapers that was unworthy the nation — frantic 
demands for impossible things, clamors for executive 
action that would be not only unbecoming, but absurd ; 
interpretations by statesmen of national reputation of 
international law, that would be suppressed by any en- 
lightened committee presiding over a debate of college 
students. It was not our place, surely, to insist on 
action based upon the precedents of piracy to excuse a 
policy of filibustering. 

That there was something far more in this war than 
had been evident in former struggles, was manifest when 
the Havana despatches told of the steady and swift ad- 
vance of Gomez and Maceo into the central and west- 
tern provinces. This was not what was promised by 
the presence of the most distinguished of Spanish 
generals, backed by an army of 100,000 men. The 
Spanish official stories, meagre and colored as they 
were — as is the habit and flagrant sin of military bulle- 
tins — told enough to make known that there was at last 
a real uprising of the Cuban people, one that swept over 
the breadth and length of the Island, and in the fiery 

C— 26 



450 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

flood of which racial sensibilities, and the factions of 
men or politics, were submerged. 

The return of Campos to Spain, discomfited and con- 
fessing failure, the friends of Spain panicky, and the 
Cubans exultant, appeared to announce the final failure 
of Spain to conquer Cuba. Then was visible the anoient 
bitterness of the Spaniard, his faith in the efficacy of 
severity, and the call for General Weyler to take com- 
mand, because, in part by his friends and in part by his 
enemies, he had been reputed intelhgent, energetic, vin- 
dictive and merciless. 

At this juncture I accepted a call to go to Cuba as a 
newspaper correspondent, and was provided with many 
letters of identification and endorsements, giving assur- 
ance of a considerate reception by the official class. A 
visit to Washington was valuable in the acquirement of 
the certain knowledge that whatever might be the lack 
of qualification in the proceedings Congress was dis- 
posed to initiate, the executive branch of the govern- 
ment was in action limited by lack of the authenticities 
for recognition or intervention. 

In Havana I found a group of representatives of 
the leading American journals, particularly those of 
New York, that are now more than ever searching the 
world for news. The correspondents were full of enter- 
prise, courage, and spirit of adventure, flush with audac- 
ity, willing to risk life itself for " scoops," and armed 
with enormous letters of credit that they might on 
occasion use gold freely in news service, open or 
secret, and they have done more than all others to 
throw a fierce burning searchlight upon the bloody 
mysteries of Cuba in war, and the dismal oppres- 
sions of her people when their agitations are so far 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 453 

suppressed that the condition of feverish repose is 
called peace. 

My reception by the Spanish officials in Havana — this 
arrival was after Campos, and before WeyJer — was 
full of politeness, and seemed something more, even 
cordial. The high officers of Spain are educated men, 
though unfortunately they are not like the Germans of 
the same rank, accomplished in the English language. 
They are, however, trained men, and there is in their 
answers, to every-day inquiries for news, a diplomatic 
reserve, showing the care bestowed in their schools upon 
the art of not saying too much. A letter from the Span- 
ish minister. His Excellency Depuy de Lome, gave the 
responsible men about the palace to understand that I 
was a " serious " man, and the word serious conveys in 
Spanish a high compliment. I have pleasure in the 
acknowledgement of my indebtedness to Captain-Gen- 
erals Marin, Weyler, and their respective secretaries of 
state, and others, for their courtesy, and for confidences 
as their obligations would permit ; and for painstaking 
to be obliging. 

In the distinguished consideration with which I was 
received, the power of the press and the potency of the 
country of which I was a citizen, and its ponderosity in 
the neighborhood, were regarded. General Weyler 
gave orders that I was to be admitted whenever calling 
between the hours of two and three in the afternoon, 
and I never asked him a question that he hesitated to 
answer, though often his replies omitted the real mat- 
ter of importance. There were disadvantages in these 
conversations because they were carried on through in- 
terpreters, and interpretation is often too discursive or 
timid, and it is hard to impart the precise meanings, es' 



454 - ^-^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

pecially when they happen to be both deUcate and of 
moment. 

The press of Havana took some interest in me, and 
La Discussion, one of the leading and the most hberal 
journal of the city, interviewed me, and published a 
portrait, and thus it became known to the Cuban 
sympathizers that I was in Havana, and the extent and 
import of my mission were exaggerated, and after being 
passed along, the impression was made that much 
might depend upon the estimation I should form of the 
situation, economic, political, military and international. 

One day — it was before the iron lines were drawn on 
all correspondents, and indeed all persons of whatever 
occupation, preventing movements into the doubtful 
country between the defined lines of the combatants — 
I was told, with ceremonies of mystery, that there had 
just arrived a man from the United States of extraor- 
dinary consequence. He had been sent by the Repub- 
lican National Executive Committee to get into the in- 
surgents' part of the country, to visit the mythical cap- 
ital of the Cubans — Cubitas — to ascertain from original 
sources what was going on, and report to the party, so 
that the republicans would know from the inside what 
should be done in Congress and how to shape the plat- 
form at St. Louis. The confidential nature of this mission 
was insisted upon with a vigor that was nearly violent, 
and I was almost sworn not to tell under any earthly cir- 
cumstances of any rumor that such a thing had ever 
reached me. Was this mighty missionary man in Ha- 
vana ? No one knew. Had he passed through the 
city on his way to the rebel camps ? It was rumored 
that he had done so. I was asked whether such an en- 
terprise would be important, and thought it would be 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



455 



very important, and instituted careful inquiries as to 
the whereabouts of the emissary, coupled with the sug- 
gestion that I would take pleasure in meeting the great 
representative man and having a conversation with 
.him. I could possibly co-operate in the good cause. 

Upon this hint there was diligence among the Cu- 
bans, and after a couple of days a friend carne in 
hastily and said : " He is here, he is here! " " Who is 
here ? " " Why that republican party agent who has 
been sent to Cuba by the Executive Committee to get 
the bottom facts. He has been traced right here to 
Havana, and has not left the city. His name and stop- 
ping place are not known, but I shall get very close to 
him to-morrow." 

This was encouraging ; and I was told there were only 
two or three persons to see before it could be managed 
that I might meet the representative republican person 
face to face. The man who knew all about it was 
found, and it was fixed that I was to see him, and all 
should be made clear. A tall gentleman, with fine fig- 
ure and eyes and princely manners, was introduced, and 
he greeted me with the stately grace of performing a 
function on which the destinies of Cuba might turn. 

He spoke no English, and through the interpreter I 
asked whether his information was definite and certain. 
He said with gravity it was. Did he think the matter 
was of so much moment as to engage the attention of 
Cubans ? Pie did. Indeed he knew it absolut entente. 
It was the thing of the day. Could I make the acquaint- 
ance of the partizan minister-extraordinary. There was 
a smile in the dark eyes that looked me over, and one 
of the men who understood Spanish sprang to his feet 
with an expression of disappointment, for he knew what 



456 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

I was there for, and before the interpreter could speak, 
shouted to me, " Why, you are yourself the man ! " 

We were all disheartened, and I had some labor to 
perform before it became clear to my friend that I had 
not been in association with any junta or committee in 
New York or Washing-ton or Havana ; had no repre- 
sentative prerogative, or capacity to exercise, save as a 
newspaper man representing the New York Jotirnal, 
and was not stable in opinions, even as to the exclusive 
merits of the cause of Cuba. 

The disappointment and depression were general. 
This was a narrow escape from having greatness thrust 
upon one, but the advertising done in my behalf in the 
Island brought to me Cubans who were not reserved 
as to the nature of their sympathies, and represented 
in the strongest terms, with the support of facts, the 
merits of the antagonism to the pretensions of the 
Peninsulars to rule the Islanders. 

This recitation of individual experience is to give the 
full force to the fact of my exceptional facilities to ob- 
tain information from Cubans and Spaniards, and it is 
only fair that the receptive condition of my mind should 
be emphasized. In Cuba I was as diplomatic as the 
Spaniards in stating my sentiments, and was reserved 
in all communications with both sides. It was easy to 
maintain neutrality, because it was consistent with can- 
dor. 

I have been aided since leaving the Island by Cuban 
and Spanish partizans. The Spanish minister has kindly 
furnished documents to sustain his theory of the gen- 
erosity of his country, and the revolutionists have taken 
an interest in imparting information, though offended 
by my pronounced advocacy of annexation. In giving 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 457 

attention to the elements out of which the future of 
Cuba must be evolved, there is confirmed the opinion 
formed when the failure of Campos was confessed, 
that the loss of Cuba to Spain is irretrievable and 
absolute. 

To the failure of Campos must be added the failure 
of Weyler, and the reason is not to be found in the men, 
but in the situation itself, taking- into contemplation the 
economic and military conditions. The Cubans are as 
thoroughly in a state of revolt against Spain as the 
V^irginians were in the height of the war of the early 
sixties against our federal government. The wdiole 
Island is in revolt, and the very province in which there 
is most intense sympathy with the rebellion is Pinar 
del Rio, the extreme west, where Maceo, with not more 
than ten thousand men, has held a position for more 
than a month within one day's march of Spanish forces, 
now not less than fifty thousand strong. 

It is asserted that there is more food in this province 
than elsewhere, and therefore Maceo, is in no danger of 
being starved out ; and if he can keep, by staying in 
camp in the mountains, five times his number of Span- 
iards occupied — the best troops on the Island and 
about all that can be spared from garrison and guard 
duty — he is doing very well indeed. Why the whole 
array of available Spanish battalions is not concentrated 
and hurled upon him instead of lingering on a forti- 
fied line, is inconceivable of American, French or Ger- 
man troops. Of course the Island can never be con- 
quered by this systematic and stolid immobility. 

That the destiny of Cuba must be greatly influenced 
by the racial questions is certain, for the Spaniards 
make artful use of the prominence of colored insur- 



458 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

gents in the war to excite race issues ; "but the census 
reports put to an end one bugaboo — that the majority 
of the people of the Island are black. The actual pro- 
portion is, in the latest thorough report, whites, i,iii,- 
303 ; blacks,- 520,684. The Spanish minister would 
reduce the value of these figures in removing American 
prejudice by saying : " In Cuba a mulatto must be a 
very distinctive type not to be rated as a white man, 
and th^ que^ion who are the pure whites and the pure 
blacks and the mixed races was one of difficulty and 
delicacy in the West Indies. He much doubted 
whether the census figures given me were reliable in 
that respect, and supposed they counted the majority 
of people of mixed blood as white." 'He is in error 
here, for all of "visible admixture" of negro blood are 
counted black, though they may be octoroons. There 
is a white majority in each of the six provinces, and the 
blacks can no more rule Cuba, politically and socially, 
than they can make themselves, as blacks, the masters 
of Kentucky. In Cuba many of them have shown 
high capacity, and they are in a better position than in 
any of the i\merican states, and they have escapedY>o- 
litical prejudice, for they and the whites have had sym- 
pathies in^^tlre indiscriminate lack of liberty that has 
united them, and the lessons cannot be lost. 

The Spaniards and Cubans are of the same blood, 
language, literature, religion, read the same authors, 
pray at the same altars, have largely the same past with 
its traditions, its glories of race, its achievements of 
arms ; but grievous misgovernment has divided them. 
One million of the people of Cuba are white. Nothing 
could have separated them from the eighteen millions 
of Spain but the insistance that the Peninsula should 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 459 

rule the Island across the Atlantic, that the Island 
should be the prey of pirates and the resource of profli- 
gates. 

Persistent, long-continued injustice, and indifference 
or bitter hostility to all entreaties and demands for re- 
dress, have caused the Cubans to become conspirators, 
revolutionists, enemies and destroyers, all for self-gov- 
ernment. Their affections could easily have been re- 
tained. The golden colony would have been as loyal 
to the mother-country now as one hundred years ago, 
if the Spanish ruling class had condescended to mix a 
little kindness with their masterful ways. It would 
have paid Spain well to have been occasionally gracious, 
for the Cubans had suffered long every form of humil- 
iation before they were incense^ to fury, and goaded 
into a consummate purpose of redemption and ven- 
geance. . 

The last chance of Spain was to interpret liberally 
and generously the outlined pllans of the treaty that 
closed the ten years' war. When they were carved and 
rasped away until only a mockery remained, a skeleton 
reminder of the original, this war broke out, and it will 
be the last of the civil wars in Cuba, until there are de-. 
velopments entirely new, because there is but one end 
to this conflict that is logical or possible, and it is that 
the Island shall be governed by its own people — it 
cannot be subjected through endless ages to a. series of 
foreign satraps and their swarms of consumers of the 
substance of the land. 

The Spaniard'sfault is that he has not been able to 
escape from his own system. He is its slave as Cuba 
is its victim. Oh, the pity of it, the disaster of it ! So 
far as Spain is concerned, the Island covered with debts 



460 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

heaped upon her beyond all possibility of payment, 
mortgaged to the chimney pots, and scourged and bled 
and burned, no curse that befalls unfortunate humanity 
not visited upon her — the once royal and opulent Cuba 
is exhausted. Whatever there may be for others, there 
is nothing for Spain. If the peninsula and the Island 
should be manacled together by the old chains, both 
would be reduced to indigence and ignoaiiny. 
. They must be freed from each other. If there are 
those in Spain who have read their own history with 
philosophy, they know this ; but they are silent, for the 
tyrannical treatment of Cuba is necessarily associated 
with despotism in Spain. The Spaniards, fighting that 
Cuba shall not be free, have lost their own liberty, an 
old story told of all the nations that have perished. 

France lives, and lost Hayti long before Spain's 
troubles began with Cuba. The only mistake the 
French made when they found their great West Indian 
island was unprofitable and must be so, was in giving 
up so many lives and so much gold in strife to regain 
the possession that was certainly no more for her than 
if the ocean had swallowed it. Spain herself aban- 
doned Hayti once, the seat of her capital of the New 
World, and the loss was gain. 

We may say there is now imposed upon Cuba the 
war debt that is indissoluble and irredeemable, and 
there is nothing to show for it. It is charged to Cuba, 
but it rests upon Spain, the unfortunate proprietor who 
looks over a beautiful estate whose future can have no 
income for him to dispose of. The only use of it is 
that of a country for the education, discipline and ad- 
venture of Spain's young men beyond the seas, and fat 
places for her military chieftains and their favorites, 










:^ 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 463 

and the support of ungrateful and insatiable and for- 
ever swarming office-holders. 

There is, no doubt, a certain convenience and bland- 
ishment in this, but it would be infinitely better for 
Spain if Spaniards would turn their attention to their 
own country — their own incomparable peninsula. De- 
velopement at home is the hope of her future. She has 
for centuries wasted her substance in colonies, and the 
result is her comparative poverty, her men perishing, 
and her wealth in soil and labor wasted irrecoverably. 

Why this war is the worst ever seen ; labor refused 
compensation, annihilates capital to lay the foundations 
of liberty in chaos. Why should Spain impoverish her- 
self to hold a title for land that must change owners 
before it can yield income ? Will she ruin herself for 
Cuba's sake ? If she does, where shall she find even the 
shadow of compensation for her sacrifice ? 

We may have to take a lofty tone with Spain, but we 
should not insult her in the midst of her misfortunes. 
We owe her good-will. In the proclamation of the 
Monroe doctrine, she was placed apart as an exception 
among the European nations. That she had ancient 
rights was conceded. There has been a change, and 
the biggest fact in the whole business is that Spain has 
lost Cuba. 

The next thing is, what are we going to do about it ? 
How shall we recognize the fact, as Spain is not suffici- 
ently convinced of it ? The civilian rebels in Cuba are 
especially vigorous in their freedom of speech about the 
United States. They are so in their demands that we 
should be up and doing, and that which is their master- 
ing desire is that we should help them to be the ruling 
class of the Island. 



464 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

On account of the people at large of Cuba, the action 
taken by the United States should be pursuant to a 
well considered policy of annexation. It is that which 
is of greater importance at this moment than anything 
else in sight that is not of intimate, domestic concern- 
ment. We must shape our national proceedings in 
accordance with interpretations of current history — that 
Spain has no further use for Cuba, but to get out of it 
with as much honor and saving of reputation and min- 
imum of sacrifices as she has the conservative states- 
manship to secure. 

She has lost the Island through the affliction of her 
own misgovernment, and, so far as she holds any part 
of it in military subjection, it will be at vast cost and 
no profit. Gomez says, in his manifesto of December 
3rd, that it is all right if the Cubans have recognition of 
rights as belligerents, but he shall go on to free the 
Island, sword in hand. That is the spirit of the soldier, 
and a matter of fact of moment. 

American statesmanship should find the way with 
the concurrence of nations, at least their acquiescence, 
and that they may consent at last we should not say 
too much at first, to interpose our good offices to stop 
the effusion of blood and the consumption of property, 
and save from abject misery a million and a half of 
people ; briefly, to end the incessant troop of horrors of 
the hopeless war in a truce that shall become a peace, 
and take Cuba under our protection as a territory, to 
become, with the hearty help of her people, a state of 
the Union ! Some of the resolutions before Congress, 
relating rather remotely to this subject, have been well 
suited as preliminary steps, but the full measure of the 
matter has not appeared in any of the offerings tenta- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 465 

tive of a public policy equal to the emergency. Con- 
gress is too strong with the strength of this great nation 
to employ any frivolous words of mere belligerency. 

We need to shape a policy that is peaceable, politic, 
firm, possible and patriotic. The overhanging neigh- 
borhood and overshadowing mass of our nation im- 
pressed Cuba at large, and affected the imagination of 
her sons; and imagination is one of the creative forces. 
There has been a growth of Americanism in the 
Island, and the young men feel themselves Americans 
rather than Europeans — a fact full of promise. It is the 
pride and happiness and, they believe, the security of 
many of them to be or to become American citizens, 
and when we look at it closely the at first apparent 
artificiality of the proceeding of "making themselves 
Americans," as General Weyler says, gives way to the 
appreciation of its naturalness and belief in its fruitful- 
ness. 

If we, the people of the United States, are Americans, 
in the great sense of the word, we should know from 
sympathy that the Cubans absorb Americanism from 
the atmosphere, and it is the true article. The time 
was when if Spain had been discomfited in or disen- 
chanted about Cuba, the Island reduced from the con- 
trol of the peninsula would have fallen a prey to home- 
made demagogues and imported adventurers. That 
danger is over. The drift of Cuban sentiment is to 
Americanism, and there is behind it the teaching of a 
generation of sorrows. 

Whatever differences of opinion may exist as to the 
government at Havana and our relations to it, or the 
nature and extent of our associations with Venezuela, 
it is clear that the day when Americans can look with 



466 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

indifference upon the passage of the Hawaiian islands 
into the hands of one of the powers of Europe or the 
parceUing of South America after the manner of Af- 
rica, is gone never to return, and it is distinct also that 
when Spain's grasp upon Cuba relaxes, no nation in 
Europe can claim the exercise of authority. No re- 
mote ruler but Spain can be tolerated, and as we are 
bound by international comity to respect her ancient 
title, that of discovery and colonization, which has been 
broken by the contention of internal forces, we are 
inevitably to take her place when she goes ; and surely 
the Spanish situation would be far more promising if 
her young men who are filling so many Cuban graves 
gave their lives to their own country, in the industries 
of home creation rather than foreign destruction. 

The Venezuelan agitation has supplied the ingredient 
that will engage flagging attention to the waters south 
of us as of equal interest for us with those that unite us 
with' and divide us from Europe and Asia. Look at 
Cuba on the map, and note how near she is to both 
Florida and Yucatan, her west end commanding the 
gates to the Gulf of Mexico, while eastward she slopes 
far down into the tropics, and dominates the Caribbean 
Sea. She is the most luxuriantly rich of the islands of 
the seas. She is almost as plainly ours in the course of 
nature as is Lonor Island. We do not undervalue the 
Hawaiian and Samoan groups, but it is not too much to 
say that Cuba is worth all the islands in the Pacific 
between our borders and Japan, including New Zealand. 

As an American state, Cuba would be worthy her 
place in the splendid and immortal sisterhood ; and as 
a prize of peace, she would enter the Union with an 
endowment of the matchless prodigality of nature, add- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 467 

ino" the opulence of the tropics to the magnificence we 
inherit in the imperial north temperate zone ; and the 
statesmanship of this work will have rank along with 
that which gave us California and the two oceans for 
our boundaries. 

On the Cuban shore the silvery surf breaks from a 
mighty sweep of waters, exquisite in color, reminding 
one of the Mediterranean embracing with crystal arms 
Italy, with all her gifts of beauty, but in Cuba we behold 
the royal palms waving over a soil surpassing Egypt in 
the accumulated wealth of ages ; and as the arch of the 
western sky stands radiant over the shining waters, we 
cannot fail to remember that here is the American 
Mediterranean, and feel the thrill of an elevated ambi- 
tion that of right it ought to be, and at last, with peace 
and honor, shall be ours. 

Just when and how Cuba shall be won it is not the 
part of wisdom to be hasty in undertaking to say, but 
it is timely to declare that war with Spain should not be 
regarded unless in a dire complication a part of the 
proceeding. 

Avoidance of that calamity will bear testimony to 
our civilization, and command more respect than mili- 
tary conquest. 

That element in affairs which we call business more 
and more emerges from private transactions, and decides 
the destiny of nations. 

There is a public power in the conservation of the 
general good of communities to w^hich the prejudices of 
peoples and the passionate remonstrances of racial or 
imperial ambitions must give way, and we can already 
trace the tendencies that will apply this principle to the 
division, by natural law, of Spain and Cuba, when their 



468 TH^ SrOKY OF CUBA. 

vision is clear that the iron bond of union is the cause 
of mutual ruin. 

It has seemed to some writers fair to refer to the Cu- 
ban rebels as a rabble and a lot of barbarians, unworthy 
respectful attention or sympathy as representatives of 
a popular cause. But certainly many of those support- 
ing the rebellion with all their hearts are gentlemen and 
ladies. The charge that they are ruffians and monsters is 
shameful, and its assertion, to turn a sentence, is mean. 
There are none more clever and accomplished than 
they. The following testimony from a Cuban " coun- 
try newspaper " is more notable because it was repro- 
duced as official news in a Havana paper : 

Santiago de Cuba, Feb. 9, 1896. 

In these days there have been solicited and granted a great number of 
passports for Venezuela, Costa Rica, Santo Domingo, Mexico and Hayti. 
If this emigration should continue, within a very short while we will re- 
main without population. 

The want of work is the principal cause that many people have aban- 
doned the country. 

It is said, and it appears to be certain, that in this week a good many 
persons have joined the rebels, some quite well known. 

The line about the well-known people going over to 
the rebels should be marked. Insurgents resent the 
imputations of ruffianism and vulgarity, and of the prev- 
alence of self-seeking foreign adventurers, saying that 
" the best blood of Cuba " is in the rebel raids ; that men 
are in their ranks who have helped to burn their own 
cane, using the torch upon their property in the belief 
that they were serving the cause of freedom. 

It is the voice of ignorance and violence that de- 
nounces the Cuban rebels as a rabble of miscreants, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 469 

adventurers, mere cut-throats and incendiaries. They 
are Americans, and worthy to be with and of us. 

There are in Cuban towns 60,000 volunteers, uni- 
formed, drilled, armed with rifles and bayonets, and as 
they have no armories and supervise themselves, it is 
safe to say they have no masters. Each man keeps his 
gun and ammunition at home. The volunteers are, as 
a rule, native Spaniards, and have Spanish sympathies, 
but they are identified with Cuba, and proud of their 
places. They are considered by the majority of the 
Cuban insurgents their most determined and remorseless 
enemies. But the volunteers are the armed representa- 
tive men of business, and they hold the balance of 
power. More than once they have deposed captain- 
generals, and they can do it again. They mean, above 
all, to hold their arms and positions, and the latter 
are departing, for business is taking to itself wings and 
flying away. 

There are in Havana men and women who were 
worth millions in the old days, and are in poverty so 
pinching that it would be advantageous to their personal 
comfort to exchange places with their old servants. A 
man who spent not less than $30,000 a year for thirty 
years, and regarded it as economical living, does not 
keep a servant, because he cannot pay one. His wife 
does the cooking, and there is little to cook, and there 
is not a ray of light in the darkness of the future, save 
the glimmering hope that something will come out of 
the great country to the north w^est that will change the 
scene and give another chance. 

A friend inquiring in Havana for a planter he once 
knew, and whose hospitality had been one of the charmed 

recollections of his life, was told that he was destitute 

c— 27 



470 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



in a village near the city, and called, finding him poor 
indeed — plantations all gone, no sugar or tobacco to sell, 
and no telling when work could be done. He was on 
the brink of the dread abyss of despair, but the word 
America bade him hope. A planter still active, who 
has by no means yielded to gloomy fortune, whose cane 
has not been burned, was told by the military com- 
mandant in his neighborhood, that if he would provide 
for and pay the soldiers to guard his fields and build- 
ings, they could be furnished. " But," said he, " I have 
no money to pay soldiers — that tax, this tax, and the 
other tax, has eaten up all my gains. My only chance 
is in the sugar fields, and you can see what that is. I 
have no money and cannot borrow a dollar, though I 
thought myself worth two millions. The end for me is 
not far off." 

There is an impending collapse of business — to be one 
of the most destructive and instructive that has fallen 
upon a once great and prosperous community. " An 
earthquake could not overthrow a city with a surer blow" 
than the shock that must come when the war has done 
its worst, and the sinking of the one hundred sugar and 
tobacco millions is not a speculative but a verified fact. 

Can the politicians, and the chambers, and boards, 
and committees, fail to see that the extraordinary will 
occur; that the unexpected, if we calculate on customary 
conditions, will surely happen"; that what we are in the 
habit of calling the impossible is precisely that which is 
CO be anticipated ? 

There is a business army, with the physical force to 
turn and overturn. The calamity that approaches an- 
nounces itself in many ways to these very men. They 
have already felt the pinch of hardening times, and 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 47 1 

fancy 60,000 business rifles and bayonets, between the 
Spaniards and Cubans, and that some day they say as 
one man, "It is time to stop the destruction of the 
Island. Stop ! " When that time arrives the war must 
be ended, and the rest is easy. The solution will flow- 
like a river. The ocean that is its home is Americanism, 
and the current will carry Cuba into the American 
Union as surely as the Mississippi pays tribute to the 
Gulf. 

The volunteers, 13,000 strong" in Havana, 60,000 in 
Cuba, are held to be the sure guarantee of the enduring 
supremacy of Spain, but the Providence^that shapes our 
ends has other uses for them. The Cubans dread them, 
and it is understood that they, more keenly than others, 
antagonize the Americans and are the most fiery and 
relentless of all who oppose suggestions for the inde- 
pendence of the Island. 

Every day declares the incapacity of Spain, and there 
is a point at which conservatism saves itself with revo- 
lution. The time is not far off when the final question 
of bread will be uppermost, and when the bread-and- 
butter question is raised there will be some improve- 
ments. It is when the existence of butter is forgotten 
that the bread appeal is most powerful. When busi- 
ness is gone from Cuba, Spain must go, for business will 
compel her. Business does not regard a foolish pride 
or deadly revenge, but takes into account the whole- 
some and substantial, and preaches peace with the 
promise of prosperity. 

This is one of the ways in which Cuba may be cleared 
for her great future, without our intervention, and by 
the prevention of further blood-shed by superior force. 
It would be a happy solution. Hope for and help it ! 



472 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The peace and prosperity of the most fertile and fair- 
est, the largest and noblest of the American islands, de- 
mand that it shall, through pacific international pro- 
cesses, yield to the drift of manifest destiny, and the 
attraction of gravitation of the great republic, and take 
its place as an indestructible State of the indissoluble 
American Union — one of the stars of our national con- 
stellation — the United States. 

The contention is that this, " consummation devoutly 
to be wished," will be led up to by the procession of 
events in the course of a few years, and the achieve- 
ment celebrated in our history as ranking with the mem- 
orable expansion of our domain, from the Mississippi to 
the Pacific. 

The people of Cuba, w^hen they are free, will vindi- 
cate once more the inalienable rights of self-govern- 
ment. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY, -' 473 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

POINTS OF PICTURES. 

Sugar Plantation — Tobacco Fields — Royal Palms — Cocoanut Palms- 
Cuban Vegetation — Moro Castle Cell — Valley of the Yumuri — 
Santiago — Royal Family — The Object Lesson of Cuba and Long 
Island Contrasted on the Scale as to Size — The Spanish Hill-top 
and Car Fortifications — Cuban Pictures too Beautiful to Paint, Ex- 
cept with a Poetic Pen. 

The Spaniards have had a laborious year and a quar- 
ter since the war that continues broke out. They have 
cut many roads through jungles and constructed barri- 
cades and excavated ditches, and they have built two 
thousand forts for the shelter of their petty garrisons, 
that they may be able to stand a siege and beat off 
bands of insurgents in superior numbers. These forts 
are structures impervious by rifle shots, and are loop- 
holed. They are provided with water supply and food 
and cartridges for a few days, and in them the Spanish 
guards are enabled to avoid malaria and partake of 
their scanty rations in comparative comfort and be 
right in the way of hindering the roving columns of the 
rebels. 

The forts are in commanding places, and have become 
a feature in the landscapes hardly second in conspicuity 
to the palm trees that forever dominate the scenery. 
The Spaniards in their snuggeries would be a forbidding 
feature over a vast extent of territory, if they were keen 
marksmen. With the range of a mile or two that the 



474 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

rifles with which the Spanish soldiers are provided, 
half a dozen sharp-shooters in a fort would be distract- 
ing hornets' nests, and have a wide-spread in-flaence. 
The terrors of the system of minor fortifications are 
much mitigated by the fact that markmanship is an 
extraordinary accomplishment among the Spanish 
soldiery. 

The active Spaniards have also forts on car tracks 
for the protection of railroads. They take freight cars 
and plate them with iron, and loop-hole them, and 
place two or three with appropriate garrisons in the 
trains transporting troops and supplies. The insur- 
gents have been bothered a good deal by these peram- 
bulating fortifications, but recently they have found 
out a way of beating the car forts, by waylaying them 
in railroad cuts, and firing through the unprotected roofs 
— a very disturbing ceremony. 



The map of Cuba that we give, showing the line o( 
march of Gomez through the Island from east to west, 
of the insurgent forces, is contrasted with Long Island 
drawn on the same scale. The line of the march should, 
however, be projected two-thirds through Pinar del Ric. 

This map furnishes an object lesson, showing by meas- 
urement with a familiar object, how great a space the 
unhappy Island, whose dramatic story we relate, occu 
pies in the American seas, where it is always summer. 
Long Island is always held in great esteem for her fine 
figure between the sea and the sound, extended from 
Manhattan Harbor to Montauk Point, her soil fertile 
except where the sand hills or the salt marshes en- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 47 S 

croach, her climate salubrious, the home of the sea 
breeze, the surrounding- marshes teeming with food 
fishes, far surpassing those that in all the historic ages 
have been famous in the sea of Marmora, and the Hel- 
lespont and the Dardenelles and all the abounding 
waters from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. 

Now Cuba is twenty-nine times the size of Long 
Island ; indeed is longer measured across degrees of 
latitude, and larger in .superficial area than the state of 
New York, and is as large as England, omitting Wales. 



The forests of Cuba are full of precious wood, her. 
mountains charged with iron, copper and coal, her soil 
ready to yield, under conditions of liberty and order, 
justice and intelligence, briefly of good government 
and industry, five million tons of sugar yearly, instead 
of one, and corn and tobacco galore ; while in translu- 
cent seas and swift rivers, there are fish innumeiable and 
dehcious, and oysters of a flavor and abundance that 
would be approved in New York or Baltimore ; and 
the turtles crawl like gorgeous and gigantic insects 
over the coral islands that cluster in strands of gems 
around the exquisite and enormous Pearl of the Antilles. 



The fruit-stand in Havana shows the decorative 
make up of pine-apples, oranges and bananas, and also 
the style of portico, with massive and lofty stone pillars, 
that is one of the most familiar features of Havana 
architecture. Under the eisfantic colonnades there is 
abundant shelter from the rain, and when the pillars 
are curtained and the sidewalk of stone dampened, the 
power of the torrid sun is gratefully modified. There 



476 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

are two ways in tropical towns of building for comfort — 
one to use flimsy material and trust to mere shade and 
the free circulation of air, and the other to erect walls 
of extraordinary thickness, warding off the heat with 
masses of stones and piling ponderous arches on giant 
pillars. The latter is the Havana way. 



Mr. M. H. Ballou, in his "Due South"— which is 
brightly appreciative of the beauties of Cuba — gives 
this picture of one of the most charming places in the 
world : 

"The Bishop's Garden, so called because some half 
century since it was the residence of the bishop of 
Havana, is about four miles from the city, on the line 
of the Marianao railroad. It must have been a delight- 
ful place when in its prime and properly cared for ; 
even now, in its ruins, it is extremely interesting. There 
are a score, more or less, of broken, moss-grown statues, 
stone balustrades, and stone capitals lying among the 
luxuriant vegetation, indicating what was once here. 
Its alleys ot palms, over two hundred years in age, the 
thrifty almond trees, and the gaudy-colored pinons, 
with their honeysuckle-like bloom, delight the eye. 
The flamboyant absolutely blazed in its gorgeous flow- 
ers, lik^ ruddy flames, all over the grounds. The re- 
markable fan-palm spread out its branches like a pea- 
cock's tail, screening the vistas here and there. Through 
these grounds flows a small, swift stream, which has its 
rise in the mountains some miles inland, its bright and 
sparkling waters imparting an added beauty to the 
place. By simple irrigating means this stream is made 
to fertilize a considerable tract of land used as vegeta- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 477 

ble gardens, lying between Tulipan and Havana. The 
Bishop's Garden still contains large stone basins for 
swimming purposes, cascades, fountains, and miniature 
lakes, all rendered possible by means of this small, 
clear, deep river. The neglected place is sadly sugges- 
tive of decay, with its moss-covered paths, tangled 
undergrowth, and unt^rimmed foliage. Nothing, how- 
ever, can mar the glory of the grand immemorial palms. 
" The town of Tulipan, in which is the Bishop's Gar- 
den, is formed of neat and pleasant residences of cit- 
izens desiring to escape the bustle and closeness of the 
city. The houses are half European or American in 
their architecture, modified to suit the climate. Here 
the American consul-general has a delightfully chosen 
home, surrounded by pleasant shade, and characterized 
by lofty, cool apartments, with bright, snowy marble 
floors, plenty of space, and perfect ventilation. Mr. 
Williams is a gentleman unusually well fitted for the 
responsible position he fills, having been a resident of 
Cuba for many years, and speaking the language like a 
native. In his intensely patriotic sentiments he is a 
typical American. It is not out of place for us to 
acknowledge here our indebtedness to him for much 
important information relating to the Island." 



The tower of the cathedral that is seen down the nar- 
row street, and was built of white limestone, is the spire 
that we may regard as his monument, and we quote 
its history in " Cuba with Pen and Pencil," by Samuel 
Hazzard : 

" The grand object of interest, however, is the ' Tomb 
of Columbua,' and it is astonishing how many people 
there are who come to Havana that are io^norant of the 



478 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

remains of Coluiiibus being in the precincts of Havana 
— having" been transferred from the place of his death. 

" History tells us that Columbus died at Valladolid, 
Spain, on Ascension day, the 20th of May, 1506; that 
his body was deposited in the cor.vent of San Francisco, 
and his obsequies celebrated with funeral pomp m that 
city. His remains were afterwards transported, in 15 13, 
to the Carthusian monastery of Seville, known as ' Las 
Cuevas,' where they erected a handsome monument to 
him, by command of Ferdinand and Isabella, with the 
simple inscription, borne upon his shield, of : 

A CASTILE Y LEON, 

NUEVO MUNDO DIO COLON. 

" In the year 1856 his body and that of his son, Diego, 
were removed to the city of San Domingo, in the island 
of Hayti, and interred in the principal chapel. But 
they were not permitted to rest even there ; for on the 
15th of January, 1796, they were brought to Havana, 
and interred in their present tomb, amidst grand and 
imposing ceremonies, participated in by the army, navy, 
and church officials, and an immense concourse of spec- 
tators. To use the words of a Spanish author : ' Havana 
wept with joy, admiration, and gratitude at seeing enter 
within its precincts, in order to guard them forever, the 
ashes of Cristobal Colon.' 

** The ashes, it is understood, were deposited in an urn, 
which was placed in a niche in the wall, at the entrance 
and to the left of the chancel of the cathedral. Over 
this has been placed a slab of stone, elaborately carved, 
in a stone frame, and representing the bust of Colum- 
bus in the costume of the time, a wreath of laurel 




ATTACK BY CUBANS ON FORTIFIED RAILROAD TRAIN. 



(479) 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 43 I 

around his head, and symboUcal emblems at the foot of 
the medaUion, upon which is inscribed in CastiUan : 

Oh, rest thou, image of the great Colon, 
Thousand centuries remain, guarded in the urn, 
And in the remembrance of our nation. 

"Well may the question be asked : Where then were 
all the muses when they inscribed such lines as these ? " 



The Spanish outpost is evidently on a railroad and in 
an open country. There is no ambuscade in sight. 
There may be rebels in the hills that are far away out 
of rifle range. The strange old town answers the pur- 
pose of a look-out and shelter for riflemen if the enemy 
should make a dash. The officer in command has just 
received a despatch that is attracting close attention, 
and may announce the movement of a Spanish column 
or an advance of the enemy. The messenger is mounted 
on one of those swift, easy single-footed rackers, the clat- 
ter of whose feet on the hard roads is musical, and the 
delightful gait one that all the Cuban horses of good 
breeding have. The inevitable palm tree disputes pos- 
session of the land wnth a telegraph pole. 



The sugar plantation, from a photograph, shows at a 
glance the scope of the fields on which the cane, so rich 
in sweets, grows with luxuriance and yields the raw 
material of the wealth that has made Cuba a prize to be 
fought for. The cane grows on year after year and 
when cut is carted to the machinery and furnaces 
marked by the towering chimney. An extensive plan- 
tation has hundreds of mules and horses and carts in 



482 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

strings of fifties. In war time this equipment is impor- 
tant in the transportation of the baggage of the armies. 
When the cane is carted to the grinding machinery, the 
juice is pressed out, and after the second squeeze is over 
the pulp quickly dries in the sun — the dry season is 
grinding time — and serves for fuel ; and this supply is 
usually found sufficient. The sugar is transported in 
bags made of jute, each containing from three hundred 
to three hundred and forty pounds, the average pack- 
age being three hundred and twenty pounds. The cost 
of the English bag is nine cents, but the duty, unless it 
is made in Spain, is ten cents, and the price to Cubans 
is twenty ; so that Spain gets the job of making the bags 
and the Cuban sugar makers pay twice their value and 
five per cent. over. The sugar production of Cuba, un- 
der conditions of peace, is one million tons per annum 



The tobacco fields are adorned with the lofty and 
feathery palms which distinguish the scenery and do 
not cast a harmful shade. The finest tobacco planta- 
tions in the world are those in Pinar del Rio, the west- 
ern province of the Island, and the industry has suffered 
from the incursion of the insurgents, who rode through 
the fields and enlisted the laborers just at the critical 
season for cutting and curing the leaves, and the Span- 
iards identifying largely the rebellion with the tobacco 
interests, have not hesitated to make their movements 
also destructive. 



Santiago, it will be remembered, is the scene of the 
Virgiiihis massacre, and the beauty of the place is 
referred to in the farewell letter of the Cuban martyr, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 483 

Captain Fry, to his wife. The view selected displays 
the distant hills and waters and a quaint country house 
on a commanding point. 



The vegetation in Cuba, stimulated by a soil of 
incomparable riches and wet seasons, during which the 
rain fall is enormous, and a sun just fiery enough to be 
invigorating to vegetables, whatever it might be to ani- 
mals, prepares millions of ambuscades, and the tree-tops 
are sometimes used because the underbrush is so thick 
it is difficult to aim at an enemy from the ground. 

There are many palms in the Cuban forests, and the 
tendency of the trees generally is to throw out tops 
resembling spread umbrellas. The insurgents are as 
expert in preparing places from which they can, in com- 
parative security, fire with deadly effect upon columns 
of regulars, as ever the North American Indians were, 
and they have crafty ways of concealing themselves 
and giving and taking warning that certain roads are 
safe and others perilous. 



The view of a cell in Moro Castle is in the nature of 
news. The journalist, Charles Michelson, who was con- 
fined there in a case of mistaken identity on a military 
report, and released on the intervention of Consul- 
General Williams, has a keen eye for details, and was 
able to draw his surroundings faithfully. He illustrates 
one of the possible embarrassments attending enterprise 
in seeking Cuban intelligence from original sources. 



The prevalent stories of the young King of Spain are 
that he is a lively and self-willed child who improves in 



484 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

physical condition and bids fair to be a strong man, 
though born after the death of his father, who was of 
feeble constitution, perishing of pulmonary trouble. His 
mother is in vigorous health, and has won the regard of 
the Spaniards by her modesty and wholesome devotion 
to her public and family affairs. 

The resemblance of the boy king io his mother is 
evident in the family group, and the fact that he is like 
her is held to be of happy omen. The young king is, 
therefore, a little Austrian. The sisters are amiable 
girls of a more Spanish type than their brother. 

A king squirting the garden hose on his mentor is the 
lively picture that a contemporary presents to us of the 
youthful ruler of Spain. Alfonso is now ten years old. 
In six years he will come of age, and will assume abso- 
lute control of the nation, which is now fighting to 
retain a colony as it has never had to fight before. 

Maria Christina, queen regent, the mother of Al- 
fonso, is a graceful and elegant woman, who is bring- 
ing up her boy and his two sisters with the best possible 
home influences. Alfonso will be educated as few 
Spanish rulers have been. And he is not backward in 
learning either. His spirit is proud, fiery, and quick, 
and his mental activity in studies has to be restrained 
rather than encouraged. 

Besides squirting the garden hose and listening to 
reports about the Cuban rebellion, he rides the bicycle, 
and disports himself much as do other boys of his age. 

He has passed the ordeal of his first bull fight. The 
custom of Spain prescribes, as a part of the education of 
its Christian monarch, attendance on bull fights. The 
queen regent, who has a horror of these barbaric exhibi- 
tions, put off her son's initiation as long as possible. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 485 

The little chap viewed the sport without betraying any 
enthusiasm, and departed without rewarding the suc- 
cessful matador, in accordance with custom. And some 
Spaniards, therefore, fear that he may bring discredit 
on his order and race by taking a stand against the 
national sport when he grows to man's estate. 

Recently the boy king received a letter, on the occa- 
sion of his first communion, from his godfather, the 
Pope. He decided to answer it himself. He made six 
draughts, tearing each up in succession, before he was 
satisfied. He gave the final one to his mother to cor- 
rect, and she found but one error, a misspelled word. It 
was sent off to the Pope. 

King Alfonso XIII. 's jealousy of his rights is illus- 
trated by his reply to a youthful friend, who said to his 
monarch : 

" ' I am going to England.' 

" ' How is that ?' asked Alfonso. 

" ' My papa has been made ambassador in London by 
Canovas de Castillo,' was the answer. 

" ' It is unheard of,' retorted the miniature ruler, ' that 
I was not consulted about this.' " 



The Valley of the Yumuri, which is situated in the 
province and near the city of Matanzas, has the reputa- 
tion of being the most beautiful in the world. It is a com- 
bination of mountains and ocean inlets and a river, and 
a broad plain of exquisite loveliness, and it is the scene 
of many romantic stories and much pathetic history. 



The cocoanut palm is a glorious tree, immensely rich 
in leaves and fruit. It grows wild in the Island and 



486 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the green nuts each contain about a quart of palatable 
and nutritious water. As they get ripe the shell is 
hard and brown and the water precipitates its sweet- 
ness, forming the white nutty pulp, with a little milk in 
the centre, that the American boys and girls know so 
well, and of which the cocoa of commerce is made. 



There are pictures that cannot be painted with the 
brush, but a poet's pen may impart their tints and out- 
lines and atmosphere. The most exquisite examples 
are found in an old volume on the United States and 
Cuba, by James M. Phillippo, London. 

" The splendor of the early dawn in Cuba, as in the 
tropical islands in its vicinity, has been referred to. 
The whole sky is often so resplendent that it is difficult 
to determine where the orb of day will appear. Small 
"^ fleecy clouds are often seen floating on the north wind, 
and as they hover over the mountains and meet the 
rays of the sun, are changed into liquid gold, and a hun- 
dred intensely vivid dyes more splendid than the tirits 
of the rainbow. During the cooler months the morn- 
ings are delightful until about ten o'clock, the air soon 
after dawn becoming agreeably elastic, and so trans- 
parent that distant objects appear as if delineated upon 
the bright surface of the air ; the scenery everywhere, 
especially when viewed from an eminence, is indescrib- 
ably rich and glowing ; the tops of the rising grounds, 
and the summits of the mountains, are radiant with a 
flood of light ; while the vapor is seen creeping along 
the valleys, here concealing the entrance to some beau- 
tiful glen, and there wreathing itself fantastically around 
a tall spire or groves of palm-trees, that mark the site of 
a populous village. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 48/ 

*'The finest and most gorgeous sunsets occur in the 
West Indian Archipelago during the rainy seasons. 
The sky is then subhmely mantled with gigantic masses 
of cloud, glowing with a thousand gorgeous dyes, and 
seeming to collect at the close of day as though to 
form a couch for the sun's repose. In these he sinks, 
flooding them with glory, touching both heavens and 
earth with gold and amber brightness long after he has 
flung his beams across the other hemisphere, or per- 
haps half revealing himself through gauge-like clouds 
— a crimson sphere at once rayless and of portentous 
size. 

"The azure arch, which by an optical illusion limits 
our view on every side, seems here, and in the tropics 
generally, higher than in England — even higher than in 
Italy. Here is seen, in a perfection compared to which 
even Italian heavens are vapid and uninteresting, that 
pure, serene, boundless sky — that atmosphere of clear 
blue or vivid red, which so much contributes to enrich 
the pencil . of Claude Lorraine. The atmosphere of 
Cuba, as everywhere within the tropics, except when 
the high winds prevail, is so unpolluted, so thin, so elas- 
tic, so dry, so serene, and so almost inconceivably 
transparent and brilliant, that every object is distinct 
and clearly defined as if cut out of the clear blue sky. 
All travelers agree in praising the calm depths of the 
intensely blue and gloriously bright skies of inter-trpp- 
ical latitudes. In the temperate zone, it is estimated 
that about i,ooo stars are visible to the naked eye at 
one time ; but here, from the increased elevation and 
wider extent of the vault, owinof to the clearness of the 
atmosphere, especially as seen from a high mountain 
chain, the number is greatly augmented. If, however, 



488 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

these luminaries may not be seen here in greater num- 
bers, they certainly shine with greater brilliancy. The 
different constellations are indeed so greatly magnified 
as to give the impression that the power of the eye is in- 
creased. Venus rises like a little moon, and in the absence 
of the greater casts a distinguishable shadow. 

" The Milky Way, which in the temperate zone has the 
appearance of a luminous phosphorescent cloud, and, 
as is well known, derives its brightness from the dif- 
fused light of myriads of stars condensed into so small 
space that fifty thousand of them are estimated to pass 
across the disc of the telescope in an hour, is here seen 
divided into constellations, and the whole galaxy is of 
so dazzling a whiteness as to make it resemble a pure 
flame of silvery light thrown across the heavens, turn- 
ing the atmosphere into a kind of green transparency. 
Besides this, there are vast masses of stellar nebulae of 
indefinite diversity and form — oval, oblate, elliptical, as 
well as of different degrees of density, difi"used over 
the firmament, and discoverable through a common 
telescope, all novel to an inhabitant of temperate climes, 
and recalling the exclamation of the psalmist: 'The 
heavens declare the glory of God. . . . the firma- 
ment showeth forth his handiwork.' 

'" The stars 
Are elder scripture, writ by God's own hand, 
Scripture authentic, uncorrupt by man.' 

" An interesting phenomenon sometimes occurs here 
as in other islands of the West Indies, which was long 
supposed to be seen only in the eastern hemisphere. A 
short time before sunrise or sunset, a flush of strong^ 
white light, like that of the Aurora Borealis, extends 




CUBAN ATTACK ON FORT NEAR VUEI,TAS 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 49 1 

from the horizon a considerable way up the zenith, and 
so resembles the dawn as to prove greatly deceptive to 
a stranger. As he watches the luminous track he sees 
it decrease instead of becoming more vivid, and at 
length totally disappear, leaving the heavens nearly as 
dark as previous to its appearance. This is the zodi- 
acal light. " 



492 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 

STATISTICAL AND DOCUMENTARY. 

Organization of the Cuban Army, as reported by General Gomez — Com- 
merce of Spain with her Colonies — The Authentic Figures of the 
Population of the Island, Showing the Proportion of Whites and 
Colored People — Official Cuban Letters and Proclamations. 

The organization, strength, coior, leadership and loca- 
tion of the Cuban armies, as stated on good authority, is 
of positive and general interest. In the House of Repre- 
sentatives Hon. R. R. Hitt, Chairman of the Committee 
on Foreign Affairs, said : In Matanzas there are 8,900 ; 
in Havana, 8,160; in Pinar del Rio, 5,562 ; and in the 
armies of Generals Gomez and Maceo, 16,700. Ihe 
total is 60,722 men. I will insert the whole statement: 

CUBAN ARMY OF OCCUPATION. 
Province of Santiago de Cuba. 

Maj.-Gen. Jose Maceo (black) 3,000 

Brig. -Gen. Perico Perez (white) 2,000 

Brig.-Gen. Matias Vega (white) 1,000 

Gen. August in Coureco (mulatto) 1,600 

Gen. Carnelio Rojas (white) 600 

Gen. Jos6 Rabi (Indian) 1,200 

Gen. Manuel Capoti (white) 800 

Col. Felix Ruen (muhitto) 800 

Col. Francisco Delgado (white) 400 

Col. Carthagena (black) 500 

Col. Heabovaria (white) 4°° 

Col. Joaquin Planao (white) 200 

Col. Remegio Mariero (white) 200 

Col. Rodrigues (Spaniard) (white) 400 

Col. Salvo Reos (black^ 600 

Col. Pedro Popa (black) 200 

Total 13.900 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 493 

Province of Puerto Principe. 

Maj.-Gen. Mayla Rodrigues (white) Ii500 

Brig. -Gen. Lope Recio (white) 1,000 

Total 2,500 

This force serves as escort to the officials of the Cu- 
ban Republic, who, like the first congresses of America, 
as after the burning of Washington in the war of 1812, 
are compelled to move, by the exigencies of war, but 
they remain within a zone about equal to the area of 
our state of Delaware. The Marquis of Santa Lucia, 
president; the vice-president, Bartolo Masso; minister 
of war, Roloff ; minister of treasury, Pinar ; and all oth- 
ers are white. 

Province of Santa Clara. 

Maj.-Gen. Serafin Sanchez (white) 2,000 

Col. Roban (white) 600 

Col. Rego (white) 1,200 

Col. Cortena (white) 300 

Col. Felipe Toledo (white) 200 

Col. Lino Perez (white) 300 

Lieut. -Col. Leon Cio Vedal (white) 200 

Lieut. -Col. Sixto Roque (white) 200 

Total 5.000 

Province of Alatanzas. 

Maj.-Gen. Francisco Carillo (white) 3,000 

Brig.-Gen. Lacret (white) 1,500 

Gen. Pancho Perez (white) 1,500 

Col. Clotilde Garcia (black) 400 

Col. Joseph Roque (white) 800 

Col. Oulet (white) 200 

Col. Morijon (mulatto) 200 

Col. Demas Martinez (bkick) 300 

Col. (Alfred Godoy) " El Inglesito " (white) 500 

Col. Edward Garcia (white) 400 

Total J , . 8,800 



494 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Habana Province. 

Maj.-Gen. Jose Maria Aguirre (white) , 2,000 

Gen. Rafael de Cardenas (white) 2,500 

Col. Juan Masso Parra (white) 1,500 

Col. Castillo (white) 1,200 

Col. Aranguerena (white) 300 

Maj. Villanueva (black) 200 

Col. Diaz He rnandez (white) aoo 

Lieut. -Col. Corbo (white) 60 

Lieut. -Col. Palacios (black) 200 

Total 8,160 

Pinar del Rio Province. 

Maj.-Gen. Dioniosio Gil (white) 1,000 

Gen. Perico Diaz (black) 800 

Col. Perico Delgado (white) 600 

Col. Rafael Socorro (white) 200 

Col. Frederico Alphonso (white) (recruits) 62 

Col. Olivia (white) 300 

Col. Miguel Laso (white) 800 

Col. Estaban Varona (white) i, 500 

Maj. Castillo (black) 800 

Total 5, 562 

ARMItS OF INVASION. 

General-in-chief Maximo Gomez (white) 5,000 

Lieut. -Gen. Antonio Maceo (mulatto) 5,000 

Brig. -Gen. Quinton Bandera (black) 2,500 

Brig. -Gen. Jos6 Miro (Spaniard, white) 1,000 

Brig. -Gen. Bruno Zayas (white) 1,000 

Gen. Estabo Tamayo (white) 600 

Col. Nunez (white) 600 

Col. Cayito Alvarez (white) 400 

Col. Roberto Bermudez (white) 600 

Total army invasion 16,700 

Total army occupation 44 022 

Total of all forces in arms 60,722 

This is a table of officers commanding operating col- 
umns. Each of their separate columns is regularly ofE- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



495 



cered, as in the United States army, the tables showing 
color and rank : 



Officers. 



Generals 

Colonels 

Lieutenant-Colonels . 
Majors 



Total. 



No. 



24 

34 

4 

2 



64 



Color. 



White. Black. Mulatto. Indian 



19 

27 

3 



50 



In ranks bearing arras, 40 per cent, black and 60 per cent, white. 

So simple a matter as an official table showing the 
commerce of Spain with her colonies, is instructive : 



COMMERCE OF SPAIN WITH HER COLONIES. 
During 1S94 : 

Importations in Cuba from Spain 

Exportation from Cuba to Spain 



Difference in favor to export. 

Commerce witfi Porto Rico: 

Importation in the Island 

Exportation from Spain 



Pesetas.* 

37,463,110 

117,061,881 



Difference in favor of export 



Commerce with the Philippine Isles: 
Importations from the archipelago. 
Exportation from Spain 



Difference in favor of export 

The principal articles Cuba sends to Spain are: 

Sugar, 12 millions pesetas; leaf tobacco, money in silver, cocoa, 
cigarettes. 
What Spain sends: 

Cotton fabrics 21,000, 

Shoss 20,000, 

Wine 8,000, 

Oil, soap, oats, wheat, fiour 3,000, 



79,598,771 

21,580,125 
28,678,899 

7,098,774 

./,994,838 
28,581,122 

10,586,284 
cigars, and 



000 pesetas. 
000 " 
000 " 
000 " 



* Twenty cents. 



496 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



Preserved foods, candles, woolen goods, paper for cigarettes and wrapping, 

garbangos, sausage, and chocolate. 

Porto Rico sends chiefly: 

Coffee 12,000,000 

Sugar 6,000,000 

Tobacco 1,000,000 

Spain to Porto Rico: 

Fabrics 9,000,000 

Shoes 3,500,000 

Soap, candles, and oil. 

Constantly objections are urged to the release of Cuba 
from Spanish servitude, on the ground that the majority 
of the people are colored. The tables following give 
the conclusive answer to this line of observation : 

SYNOPSIS OF THE PRINCIPAL CENSUSES OF THE ISLAND OF CUBA 
FROM 176S TO 1879. 



1768. 

1774. 

1787. 
1792 
1804. 
1810. 
1817. 
i8ig, 
1825. 
1827, 
1830, 
1841, 
1846, 
1849 
1850 
1852 
1855 
1857. 
1859 
i860, 
1862 
1867 
1869 
1874 
1877 
1879 







Colored Slaves. 


Whites. 


Colored 
Freedmen. 




Males. 


Females. 


Total. 


109,415 


22,7;0 


45,000 


27,000 


72,000 


96,440 


30,847 


28,771 


15,562 


44.333 


96,610 


29,217 


32,800 


17,540 


50,340 


I33.,553 


55.930 


47,330 


37,126 


84,456 


234,000 


60,000 


75,000 


63,000 


138,000 


274,000 


108,600 


130,000 


87,400 


217,400 


276,689 


119,221 


137,115 


102,579 


239,694 


239,830 


97,000 


135,000 


81,203 


216,203 


325,000 


100,000 


170,000 


120,000 


290,000 


311,051 


106,494 


183,290 


103,652 


286,942 


332,352 


113,125 


208,120 


102,098 


310,218 


418,291 


152,838 


281,250 


155,245 


436,495 


425.769 


149,226 


201,011 


122,748 


323,759 


457,133 


164,410 


199.177 


124,720 


323,897 


479,490 


171.733 


200,000 


122,519 


322,519 


492,879 


169,316 


197,425 


124,422 


321,847 


498,752 


185,444 


222,400 


137,589 


359.989 


560,161 


177,824 


222,355 


149,755 


372,110 


589,777 


175,274 


220,999 


143,254 


364,253 


632,797 


189,848 


224,076 


152,708 


376,784 


793.484 


232,433 


218,722 


151,831 


370,553 


833,157 


248,703 


203,412 


141,203 


344,615 


797,596 


238,927 


2 1 7, 300 


145,988 


363,288 


856,177 


263,420 


209,432 


117.343 


326,775 


963.175 


272,478 


Il2,iq2 


86,902 


199,094 


965,735 


287,827 


89,517 


81,570 


171,087 



Grand Total. 



204,155 
171,620 
176,167 

273,939 
432,000 
600,000 

635,604 

553,033 
715,000 
704,487 

755,695 
1,007,624 

898,754 

945,440 

973,742 

984,042 

1,044,185 

1,110,095 

1,129,304 

1,199,429 
1,396,470 
1,426,475 
1,399,811 
1,446,372 

1,434.747 
1,424,649 



Published in No. 3, Vol, XL of the Revista de Cuba. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



497 



CENSUS OF CUBA, PUBLISHED DECEMBER 31, 1887. 

Total population 1,631,687 

Whites 1,111,303 

Negroes , 520,684 



Provinces. 



Havana 

Pinar del Rio. . . . 

Matanzas 

Santa Clara 

Puerto Principe. . 
Santiago de Cuba. 



Totals. 



Whites. 



344,417 
167,160 
143,169 
244 345 
54.232 
157,980 



1,111,303 



Colored. 



107,511 

58,731 

116,401 

109,777 

13.557 

114,339 



520,684 



Total. 



451,928 
225,891 
259,578 
354,122 
67,789 
272,379 



1,631,687 



Per ct. of 
Col'd Race. 



26 
26 
45 
3^ 
20 
42 



Calculating as the average percent, of colored, 21. 



Provinces. 



Havana 

Matanzas 

Pinar del Rio. . . . 
Puerto Principe. . 

Santa Clara 

Santiago de Cuba 

Totals 



Inhabitants. 



451,928 

259,578 

225,891 

67,789 

354,122 
272,379 



1,631,687 



Square 
Kilometres. 



8,610 

8,486 

14,967 

32,341 

23,083 

35,119 



I22,6c6 



Density. 



52.49 

30.59 

15.09 

2.10 

15-34 
7-75 



13-31 



The papers following have a vigor and accuracy of 
application that is acceptable in confirmation of their 
authenticity : 



PROCLAMATION OF THE PRESIDENT OF CUBA. 

[Received by the Junta in New Yorlc from Sefior Salvador Cisneros, 
President of the Republic of Cuba.] 

Nothing is more difficult at the outset of an enter- 
prise than to maintain it uniformly deserving the 
world's approval. The people of Cuba are now face to 



498 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

face with such a difficulty. They were born under the 
rule of a nation universally regarded as tyrannical and 
ambitious. They have never learned the lesson of gov- 
erning themselves. Now, in their struggle for inde- 
pendence, they have not only to maintain the stress of 
warfare, but also to learn how to govern themselves. 
Being a people of advanced ideas, they naturally desire 
a democratic government, created of the people, by 
the people, and for the people. The people are the only 
rulers. Their wishes are above those of the men com- 
posing the government, and the latter must obey the 
constitution adopted by the assembly of representa- 
tives. 

Those who now form the provisional government of 
the new republic, actuated by true patriotism, accept 
this obligation. They know that to establish a nation 
worthy of this age, and worthy of the heroic struggle 
of 1868, the people must be the only sovereign, and that 
such is the desire of all Cubans. For this reason, the 
provisional government, obedient to the constitution, 
and actuated by the exactions of common humanity, is 
compelled to permit a few exceptions to our last orders, 
which exceptions we shall now explain, in order that 
our countrymen, our enemies, and the world at large 
may know the honesty of our course. 

The revolution, as is the case with all revolutions 
arising from popular indignation, had at its inception 
no other rulers than those dictated by the few military 
chiefs then in arms. A uniform method of procedure 
was impossible, on account of the different lines of ac- 
tion adopted by each province in rebellion. Among 
the dispensations of some of these chiefs are the special 
permissions they gave to a few sugar planters to con- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 499 

tinue grinding this year. To-day the revolution and its 
government permits no planters to grind, but they re- 
spect the dispensation above referred to, in accordance 
with Article 21 of our Constitution, which reads, "All 
the debts and promises of the military chiefs, from the 
beginning of this war to the time in which this Consti- 
tution is adopted, shall be respected as laws by the pro- 
visional government." 

The government obeys the constitution, and this, 
then, is the only reason why some sugar estates are 
allowed to work during the present season ; the per- 
mission is not, as our enemies say, the result of force of 
arms. The proprietors of these exempted estates have 
paid war contributions to our military chiefs, and upon 
no other estates is work possible. 

In the beginning, when the revolution had no other 
government than that of the military chiefs, the com- 
mander-in-chief prohibited the importation of food by 
towns occupied by the enemy. Now the provisional 
government, considering that families of non-combat- 
ants might become the victims of such a measure, has 
abolished it, and we allow the entrance into Spanish 
towns of some articles of commerce upon payment of an 
import duty. 

Another measure adopted at the beginning of the 
revolution, and now accepted by us, is that permitting 
the burning of buildings used by the enemy as forts. 
It is false that we are inspired in this by personal feel- 
ings of revenge, as the Spanish government says we 
are. It is only a war measure. We are uniformly hu- 
mane. We set Spanish prisoners free, and despite the 
sanguinary conduct of the enemy toward peaceful 
people and Cuban prisoners, we shall not retaliate. 



500 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Nor do we accept bandits in our ranks. Those 
bands which were in existence before the revolution 
began, and came to us volunteering to fight for Cuban 
liberty, we have accepted, and will permit to remain 
with us as long as their conduct is honorable. Others, 
who intended to dishonor the name of Cuba's soldiery, 
were promptly punished. There are no bandits to-day 
in the Cuban camps, as there were in Cuba in the days 
of Spanish rule. 

To be known, therefore, to all Cubans, to the enemy, 
and to the world at large, that a few sugar estates are 
grinding their crop at present, because we respect their 
contracts with our mihtary chiefs, and because they 
pay us high taxes. Thus we prove our strength, and if 
unhappily, our forces, to-day victorious, should ulti- 
mately be vanquished, we shall have the courage to des- 
troy all sugar estates rather than permit the continuance 
of Spanish tyranny in Cuba. Let Cuba perish if she 
cannot obtain her independence. 

Salvador Cisneros, 
President of the Republic 

Ciego de Najasa, January, 1896. 

LETTER FROM GOMEZ. 
[Received by the Cuban Delegate in New York.] 

Sagua, March 19, 1896. 

Thomas Estrada Palma, Delegate of the Cuban Re- 
public. 
Dear Friend : The war continues more active and 
hard, on account of the fierce character which General 
Weyler has given to it. Our wounded are followed, 
and assassinated cruelly ; he who has the misfortune to 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 50I 

fall into the hands of the Spanish troops perishes with- 
out fail. The peaceful country people only find death 
and dishonor. Cuba to-day, as in 1868, only presents 
pools of blood dried by conflagrations. Our enemies 
are burning the houses to deprive us, according to them, 
of our quarters for spring. We will never use reprisals, 
for we understand that the revolution will never need 
to triumph by being cruel and sanguinary. We will go 
on with this war, the ultimate result of which you need 
not worry about, with success for the arms of the repub- 
lic. We fight when convenient to us against an enemy 
tired out and without faith. 

My plans are well understood by my subordinates, 
and each one knows what to do. Give us cartridges, 
so that our soldiers can fight, and you can depend that 
in the spring campaign the enemy's army will be greatly 
reduced, and it will be necessary for Spain to send 
another army, and I do not know whether it would be 
rash to say that perhaps Spain has not the money with 
which to do it. We have a great military advantage 
over the enemy in the incapacity of the majority of 
Weyler's generals. The false official reports of sup- 
posed victories with which they cynically pretend to 
deceive themselves, their government and the world, 
contribute to the speedy triumph of the revolution. 
No human work, which has for a base falseness and 
infamy, can be either firm or lasting. Everything that 
Spain orders and sends to this land, that she has drenched 
with the blood of her own children, serves only to ruin her 
power. And no man so well chosen as General Weyler 
to represent, in these times and in America, the Spain 
of Philip II. 

Much has been said and wTitten about the recogni- 



502 THE STORY OP CUBA. 

tion of belligerency by the American government ; this 
would be very advantageous to us, and is only justice, 
but, as when we rose against tyranny, we only counted 
on the strength of our arms and the firm resolution of 
victory, we follow our march unconcerned, satisfied 
that what is to happen will happen. 

Your friend, 

Maximo Gomez. 

a despatch from maceo. 

In Camp in Cuzco Hills, Pinar Del Rio Province, 

Cuba, April 14, 1896. 

W. R. Hearst, Jcw-iial^ New York: 

Responding to the request of your correspondent, I 
have to say that I consider the battle of last Saturday, 
when my troops put to flight the Alfonso XIII. bat- 
talion, the most important accomplishment of the Cuban 
army during the war, because it taught the men confi- 
dence in themselves, and also because it gave the Span- 
ish to understand that they have no contemptible foe 
to deal with. The route of that battalion will make 
cowards of the common Spanish soldiers who may be 
seo^ to fight us in the future. Since the battle my sol- 
diers ha-"" been filled with desire to meet the men on 
trocha in combat. I can hardly restrain them, and I 
feel satisfied that if it was my policy to attack the 
trocha at this time, the Spanish army would be cut to 
pieces. 

Nothing that I could say about the kindness of the 
American papers, especially the Journal, in the cause of 
Cuban liberty could adequately express the gratitude 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 503 

that fills my heart and the heart of every true Cuban. 
You have armed the weak, and made us strong to go 
on to victory. Freedom for Cuba was never closer to 
realization than it is now. Your correspondent informs 
me that doubts have been upon the victory at Pinar del 
Rio. Let me assure the Americans that we struck that 
city a heavy blow, putting the troops to flight, burning 
many houses, and capturing enough arms to place wea- 
pons in the hands of many of my men who had none 

before. 

(Signed) Antonio Maceo. 

Captain-General Weyler's idea of the limitation of the 
liberty of the press, according to his latest order on the 
subject, will interest the foreign newspapers, for jour- 
nalism has become so expansive that in war time, in any 
part of the world hereafter, it is likely to strike a great 
deal of disputed territory. 

DECREE. 

Don Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, Marquis of Tene- 
rife, governor-general, captain-general of the Island of 
Cuba, and general-in-chief of this army. 

Under the authority of the law of public order, dated 
the 23rd of April, 1870. 

I Order and Command, 

ist. No newspaper shall publish any news concern- 
ing the war which is not authorized by the staff of- 
ficers. 

2nd. Neither shall be published any telegraphic com- 
munications of a political character without the author- 
ity given by the secretary of the governor-general in 

C — 29 



504 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Havana, or by the civil governors in the other prov- 
inces. 

3rd. It is hereby forbidden to pubhsh any editorials, 
or other articles or illustrations, which may directly or 
indirectly tend to lessen the prestige of the mother- 
country, the army, or the authorities, or to exaggerate 
the forces and the importance of the insurrection, or in 
any way to favor the latter, or to cause unfounded 
alarm, or excite the feelings of the people. 

4th. The infractions of this decree, not included in 
Articles first and sixth of the decree of February i6th 
last, will make the offenders liable to the penalties 
named in Article 36, of the law of the 23rd of April, 
1870. 

5th. All persons referred to in Article 14 of the Penal 
Code of the Peninsula, which is in force in this Island, 
will be held responsible for said infractions in the same 
order as established by the said Article. 

6th. Whenever a newspaper has twice incurred the 
penalty of said offense, and shall give cause for a third 
penalty, it may then be suppressed. 

7th. The civil governors are in charge of the fulfil- 
ment of this decree, and against their resolutions, which 
must be always well founded, the interested parties may 
appeal within the twenty-four hours following their noti- 
fication. 

Valeriano Weyler. 

Havana^ April 27, 1896. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 505 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

NATURAL RICHES AND NATIVE CHARMS OF CUBA. 

The Cultivation of Sugar Cane — Picture of a Cuban Garden — The 
Southern Cross — Cuba as Eden — Sugar Making— Tobacco Raising 
— The Forests and Fruits — Beauty of the Nights — Cuba Compared 
with New York — The Precious Woods — Mountains and Rivers — 
SoUd Encyclopaedical Information — The Cry of a Poor Man. 

The cultivation of sugar cane has been the most inter- 
esting", because pecuHar and important, of the industries 
of the Island, and there is a most pleasing account of 
it in " Cuba Past and Present," w^ritten by Maturin 
Ballou, in 1885, w^hen cane culture v^^as in its glory, mid- 
way between the two wars, and this picture is from his 
gallery. 

" Sugar cane is cultivated like Indian corn, which it 
also resembles in appearance. It is first planted in 
rows, not in hills, and must be hoed and weeded until 
it gets high enough to shade its roots. Then it may be 
left to itself until it reaches maturity. This refers to 
the first laying out of a plantation, which will after- 
wards continue fruitful for years, by very simple pro- 
cesses of renewal. When thoroughly ripe, the cane is 
of a light golden yellow, streaked here and there with 
red. The top is dark green, with long, narrow leaves 
depending, very much like those of the corn stalk, from 
the centre of which shoots upward a silvery stem, a 
couple of feet in height, and from its tip grows a white 
fringed plume of a delicate lilac hue. The effect of a 



5o6 THE srORY OF CUBA. 

large field at its maturity, lying under a torrid sun, and 
gently yielding to the breeze, is very fine, a picture to 
live in the memory ever after. 

" In the competition between the products of beet-root 
sugar and that from sugar cane, the former controls the 
market, because it can be produced at a cheaper rate, 
besides which its production is stimulated by nearly all 
of the European states, through the means of liberal 
subsidies both to the farmer and to the manufacturer. 
Beet sugar, however, does not possess so high a per- 
centage of true saccharine matter as the product of the 
cane, the latter seeming to be nature's most direct mode 
of supplying us with the article. The Cuban planters 
have one advantage over all other sugar cane produc- 
ing countries, in the great and inexhaustible fertility of 
the soil of the Island. For instance, one to two hogs- 
heads of sugar to the acre is considered a good yield in 
Jamaica, but in Cuba three hogsheads are the average. 
Fertilizing of any sort is rarely employed in the cane- 
fields, while in beet-farming it is the principal agent of 
success. Though the modern machinery, as lately 
adopted on the plantations, is very expensive, still the 
result achieved by it is so much superior to that of the 
old methods of manufacture, that the small planters 
are being- driven from the market. Slave labor cannot 
compete with machinery. The low price of sugar ren- 
ders economy imperative in all branches of the busi- 
ness, in order to leave a margin for profit. 

"A planter informed the author that he should spread 
all of his molasses upon the cane fields this year as a fer- 
tilizer, rather than send it to a distant market and re- 
ceive only what it cost. He further said that thousands 
of acres of sugar cane would be allowed to rot in the 




THE PRESIDENT AND CABINET OF THE CUBAN REPUBLIC. 

SALVADOR CiSNEROS, 
President. 
SANTIAGO G. CANIZARES, SEVERO PINA, 

Interior- Apiculture. 



RAFAEL PORTUONDO. 
Foreipa Afiairs- 



MARIO G. MENOCAI,, 
War. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 509 

fields this season, as it would cost more to cut, grind, 
pack, and send it to market than could be realized for 
the manufactured article. Had the price of sugar re- 
mained this year at a fignre which would afford the 
planters a fair profit, it might have been the means of 
tiding over the chasm of bankruptcy, which has long 
stared them in the face, and upon the brink of which 
they now stand. But with a more than average crop, 
both as to quantity and quality, whether to gather it or 
not is a problem. Under these circumstances it is dif- 
ficult to say what is to become, financially, of the people 
of Cuba. Sugar is their great staple, but all business 
has been equally suppressed upon the Island, under the 
bane of civil wars, extortionate taxation, and oppres- 
sive rule. 

" The sugar cane yields but one crop a year. There 
are several varieties, but the Otaheitan seems to be the 
most generally cultivated. Between the time when 
enough of the cane is ripe to warrant the getting-up of 
steam at the grinding-mill, and the time when the heat 
and the rain spoil its qualities, all the sugar for the 
season must be made ; hence the necessity for great in- 
dustry on the large estates. In Louisiana the grinding 
lasts but about eight weeks. In Cuba it continues four 
months. In analyzing the sugar produced on the Is- 
land, and comparing it with that of the mainland — the 
growth of Louisiana — chemists could find no diff'erence 
as to the quality of the true saccharine principle con- 
tained in each." 

The delightful volume of Richard Henry Dana Jr., 
author of "Two Years Before the Mast," on his vacation 
voyage to Cuba and back, gives an account of sugar 
making, that belongs with the cane cultivation, and Mr. 



5IO THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Dana's book has an imperishable beauty becoming the 
enchantment the Island weaves about the visitors who 
travel from climes of snow to climes of sun. Here is a 
picture of a Cuban garden, that will linger in the mem- 
ory, like the balm of a breeze from the sea of the Car 
ibs, or the flavor of fruit, surely the same grown in 
Eden, for the original Paradise must have been far in 
the Southland. 

"The garden contained a remarkable variety of trees, 
including some thrifty exotics. Here the mango, with 
its peach-like foliage, was bending on the ground with 
the weight of its ripening fruit ; the alligator-pear was 
marvelously beautiful in its full blossom, suggesting, in 
form of color.the passion-flower; the soft, delicate foliage 
of the tamarind was like our sensitive plant ; the banana 
trees were in full bearing, the deep green fruit (it is 
ripened and turns yellow off the tree), being in clusters 
of a hundred, more or less, tipped at the same time by 
a single, pendent, glutinous bud, nearly as large as a 
pineapple. The date palm, so suggestive of the far 
east, and the only one we had seen in Cuba, was rep- 
resented by a choice specimen, imported in its youth. 
There was also the star-apple tree, remarkable for its 
uniform and graceful shape, full of the green fruit, with 
here and there a ripening specimen ; so also, was the 
favorite zapota its rusty-coated fruit hanging in tempt- 
ing abundance. From low, broad-spreading trees de- 
pended the grape fruit, as large as an infant's head and 
yellow as gold, while the orange, lime and lemon trees, 
bearing blossoms, green and ripe fruit all together, met 
the eye at every turn, and filled the garden with fra- 
grance. Tbe cocoanut palm, with its tall, straight stem 
and cljstering fruit, dominated all the rest. Guava, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 5II 

fig, custard apple, and bread-fruit trees, all were in 
bearing-. 

" Our hospitable host plucked freely of the choicest for 
the benefit of his chance visitors. Was there ever such 
a 'fruit garden before, or elsewhere ? It told of fertility 
of soil and deliciousness of climate, of care, judgment, 
and liberal expenditure, all of which combined Kad 
turned these half a dozen acres of land into a Gan 
Eden. Through this orchard of Hesperides, we were 
accompanied also by the proprietor's two lovely chil- 
dren, under nine years of age, with such wealth of 
promise in their large black eyes and sweet faces as to 
fix them on our memory with photographic fidelity. 
Before leaving the garden we returned with our intelli- 
gent host once more to examine his beautiful specimens 
of bananas, which, with its sister fruit, the plantain, forms 
so important a staple of fruit in Cuba and throughout 
all tropical regions. It seems that the female banana 
tree bears more fruit than the male, but not so large. 
The average clusters of the former comprise here about 
one hundred, but the latter rarely bears over sixty or 
seventy distinct specimens of the cucumber-shaped 
product. From the centre of its large, broad leaves, 
which gather at the top, when it has reached the height 
of twelve or fifteen feet, there springs forth a large 
purple bud ten inches long, shaped like a huge acorn, 
though more pointed. This cone hangs suspended 
from a strong stem, upon which a leaf unfolds, display- 
ing a cluster of young fruit. As soon as these are 
large enough to support the heat of the sun and the 
chill of the rain, this sheltering leaf drops off, and 
another unfolds, exposing its little brood of fruit ; and 
so the process goes on until six or eight rings of 



512 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

young bananas are started, forming, as we have said, 
bunches numbering from seventy to a hundred. The 
banana is a herbaceous plant, and after fruiting, its top 
dies ; but it annually sprouts up again fresh from the 
roots. From the unripe fruit, dried in the sun, a pala- 
table and nutritious flour is made." 

This from Ballou is something to dream of : " Nowhere 
on the face of the globe would well-directed, intelligent 
labor meet with a richer reward, nowhere would repose 
from labor be so sweet. The hour of rest here sinks 
upon the face of nature with a peculiar charm ; the 
night breeze, in never failing regularity, comes with 
its gentle wing to fan the weary frame, and no danger 
lurks in its breath. It has free scope through the un- 
glazed windows, and blowing fresh from the broad 
surface of the Mexican Gulf, it bears a goodly tonic to 
the system. Beautifully blue are the heavens and fes- 
tally bright the stars of a tropical night, where familiar 
constellations greet us with brighter radiance and new 
ones charm the eye with their novelty. Pre-eminent in 
brilliancy among them is the Southern Cross, a galaxy 
of stars that never greets us in the North. At mid- 
night its glittering framework stands erect. That sol- 
emn hour past, the cross declines. How glorious the 
night where such a heavenly sentinel indicates the 
watches ! ' How often have we heard our guides ex- 
claim in the savannas of Venezuela,' says Humboldt, 
' or in the deserts extending from Lima to Truxill, 
"Midnight is past, the cross begins to bend."' Cuba 
is, indeed, a land of enchantment, where nature is beau- 
tiful and bountiful, and where mere existence is a lux- 
ury, but it requires the infusion of a sterner, a more 
self-reliant, self-denying and enterprising race to test 



HER STRUGGLES EOR LIBERTY. 513 

Its capabilities and to astonish the world with Its pro- 
ductiveness." 

It is likely to occur to the race the people of the 
tropics call Yankees, that to occupy and possess the 
prodigal resources and the exceeding loveliness of Cuba, 
is the one peculiar luxuriance and delight the Ameri- 
cans of the great republic require for its symmetry 
and adornment, and to round out our commerce with 
the products of the torrid zone. 

The poetry of Cuba, though the form is prose, is in 
" Gan-Eden ; or. Pictures of Cuba."'^'' 

The " Eden " is, in great part, yet a wilderness ; its 
natural resources and native beauties yet untraveled. 

" Less than one-third," says the author, who denies us 
the pleasure of her name, " of the land in Cuba is being 
under cultivation ; large regions are as little known as 
the interior of Asia. From every height which the 
traveler attains, he may descry a horizon teeming with 
wonder and with fancy, out of the ignorance and si- 
lence of whose purple mystery no voice has come these 
hundred years. There are forests — the refuge of the 
wild dog and the wilder man, the fierce Maroon, the 
black pioneer of doom, haunting the outskirts of a tyran- 
nous civilization. There are mountains, unmeasured 
and ungauged, couching, it may be, above treasures 
which the vengeful Cemis hid from the greedy murder- 
ers of his mild worshippers. Much of the inhabited in- 
terior, too, is as little visited as the western slopes of 
the southern AUeghanies. The primitive method of 
traveling, and the antique hospitality of the rural re- 

*" Gan-Eden; or, Pictures of Cuba." Boston: Published by John P. Jewett & 
Co.; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor & Worthington; New York : Sheldon, Lam- 
port & Blakeman, 1854. 



5l4 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

gions, throw a charm of mediceval unreahty over scenes 
that may be really explored. 

*' The magnificent vale of Mariel, fair as those outer 
realms of Paradise over which the eyes of Adam ranged 
from his ' heaven-kissing verdurous walls ;' the roman- 
tic cliffs that mirror their wealth of flowers in the green 
glistening waters of the winding Canimar ; the mighty 
steeps of the Loma de Indra, from whose heights the 
view sweeps to either ocean, and away to the dim blue 
hills of Jamaica; the endless, fragrant, palm-studded 
solitudes of the "southwest ; the picturesque ravines of 
the northeast, where young girls may be seen riding on 
the backs of oxen ; the subterranean streams gushing 
Suddenly into the moonlight from the blackness of the 
sumideros, or caverns, which honeycomb the surface 
of the Island ; the hundred sequestered nooks, where 
still the guagire chants his rude improvisations, melo- 
dious and full of meaning as the cries of a bellman, or 
the songs of a gondolier, and charms, in the skilful 
gymnastics of the zapateado, groups of soft-eyed girls, 
graceful as the palm-trees arching overhead ; all these 
you reach over roads that transport you to the Middle 
Ages. 

" The great sugar estates lie in the Vueltra Arriba, the 
' upper districts,' the region of the famous ' red earth.' 
The face of this region smiles with prosperity. In ev- 
ery direction the traveler rides astonished through a 
garden of plenty, equally impressed by the magnificent 
extent, and the profuse fertility of the estates, whose 
palm avenues, plantain orchards and cane fields, suc- 
ceed each other in almost unbroken succession. So 
productive are the estates, and so steady is the demand 
for the planter's crop, that the great sugar planters are, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 515 

In truth, princes of agriculture. Cholera, sweeping away 
troops of his slaves, the match of an envious, or the 
cigar of a careless montero kindling a flame that noth- 
ing can arrest, are alike powerless to interrupt seriously 
the prosperous career of an intelligent and enterprising 
hacendado. 

" The ruinous practice of absenteeism, which prepared 
for the Brithish West Indies that sudden ruin, so often 
and so unjustly charged upon emancipation, is compar- 
atively unknown in Cuba. 

"The proprietors generally pass a part of the year on 
their estates. The master's eye keeps watch over those 
admirable arrangements and tasteful decorations, which 
make a great sugar estate so delightful to the stranger. 
Particularly beautiful are the estates to which a cafetal 
is attached. The coffee culture was introduced by the 
French refugees from Hayti, men of taste and refine- 
ment, who, in laying out the grounds of their new 
homes, took thought for the beautiful as well as for the 
useful. The Spaniards generally (Garcilaso to the con- 
trary notwithstanding), seem to have done but little 
for the advance of landscape gardening, and the glorious 
opportunities offered by Cuba to the art have been lit- 
tle improved excepting in the cafetals. Although 
Brazil has quite broken down the Cuban coffee trade, 
these coffee estates are still numerous in the Vueltra 
Arriba, where they are kept up on the French models, 
chiefly as ornaments to the sugar estates, vegetable 
farms, and homes for the younger or the decrepit ne- 
groes. 

" The imposing scale of the operations on a great in- 
genio, imparts a character of barbaric regal state to the 
life one leads there. The baracoon becomes a town. 



5l6 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the planter a feudal lord, administrating- hospitalities as 
lavish as the bounty of the climate and the soil. Living 
in such a region, one soon enters into the spirit of that 
eastern munificence and profusion which disdain limits 
and calculations. The singular number falls into disre- 
pute. A kind of gorgeous superfluity seems only fit and 
becoming. Your thought is all ' of African and golden 
joys.' The luxurious seductions of the land persuade 
you into a charity towards men so superbly tempted. 

" Looking at them simply as an entertainment, the 
mills of these great sugar estates are not incongruous 
with the easy delight of the place. Everything is open 
and airy, and the processes of the beautiful steam ma- 
chinery go on without the odors as without the noises 
that make most manufactories odious. In the centrifu- 
gal process of sugar making, the molasses passes into a 
large vat, by the side of which is a row of double cylin- 
ders, the outer one of solid metal, the inner of wire 
gauze. These cylinders revolve each on an axis at- 
tached by a horizontal wheel and band to a shaft which 
communicates with the central engine. The molasses 
is ladled out into the spaces between the external and 
internal cylinders, and the axes are set in motion at the 
rate of nineteen hundred revolutions a minute. For 
three minutes you see only a white indistinct whirling, 
then the motion is arrested ; slowly and more slowly 
the cylinders revolve, then stop, and behold ! the whole 
inner surface of the inner cylinder is covered with beau- 
tiful crystallizations of a light yellow sugar. Watching 
this ingenious process, I used to fancy that somewhat 
in this wise, might the nebulae of space be slowly fash- 
ioning into worlds. 

" But the cafetal is after all the great charm of these 



BER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. S17 

northern ingenios. One of the loveHest in the island, I 
spent a season, the brevity of which I shall always regret. 
Early in the inspiring morning, my friend Don used to 
summon me for a drive. A dozen negroes would appear 
to harness one little lively horse into a light American 
wagon, bought by my friend for the purpose of driv- 
ing over the thirteen miles of sugar and coffee estates, 
on which he has made good, broad roads. A whole 
pack of dogs started off before us, yelping, leaping and 
darting in all directions, and then we dashed away at a 
brisk pace, through the seemingly endless cane fields. 
The heavy dew, glittering on the waves of green, gave 
them a soft brilliancy ; the cloudless skies, the buoyant 
air, beguiled the way, till we drove into the cool shades 
of the plantaneria, or plantain grove, the unfailing ad- 
junct of all estates in this land, where plantain and pork 
are as much the staff of life to the montero and the 
negro, as are beef and water to the guacho or bacon 
and greens to the Virginian. The plantain tree, though 
by no means lofty or imposing — looking, indeed, more 
like a seedy cabbage with long leaves or an overgrown 
flag than like a tree — still reaches the height of twenty 
feet or more, and its heavy, dark green leaves nodding 
over the ruddy ground, make a delightful shade, a sort 
of cool baptistery, from which you pass into the statelier 
sanctuaries of the cafetal. 

"■ There the full-leafed orange, thrifty, dark, glossy 
foliage of the mango, the tall elm-like aguacate, the 
cone-shaped mamey, cover the land on both sides as 
far as the eye can reach. Everywhere you see the light, 
shrubby outlines of the coffee plant springing up beneath 
the taller trees. Avenues, miles in length, lead to the 
different quarters of the estate, and formed, as they are, 



5l8 THE. STORY OF CUBA. 

of the full exuberant mango, or the branching aguacate, 
planted alternately with the towering royal palm, be- 
come forest aisles of surpassing beauty. The height of 
the palms is immense, many of them rising more than 
a hundred and twenty feet in the air. Overtopping thus 
the other trees, their sweeping noble arches do not 
exclude the sunlight, which pours through the intervals 
as through the windows of a cathedral, and illuminates 
the green solemnity of the majestic colonnades. 

" The cottage of the cafetal was an elegantly propor- 
tioned little tropical mansion, cool, dark, floored with 
marble, wainscoted, and furnished with rich, deep-hued 
Indian woods. A garden, filled with heavy blooms of 
jasmine and roses, and the gorgeous purple Carolina, 
and a hundred drooping, odorous flowers, made the air 
faint with fragrance. A dense grove of orange trees 
near-by was lighted up through all its recesses by 
the glowing fruit. Oranges lay all about on the bright 
red earth, little naked negroes kicking aside, and sati- 
ated pigs disdainfully neglecting great luscious fruit, 
which the North would pile with pride upon salvers of 
silver and porcelain. Whenever we rode over to the 
cafetal, we always found lying on the marble tables of 
the saloon a heap of these superb oranges, with the 
morning still in their fragrance, or a huge golden pine- 
apple. Pineapples, like poets, appear to the best advan- 
tage at home. The ripe orange from the tree has a 
delicate atmosphere of its own, but in substance is hardly 
better than a well-ripened orange from the fruiterer's 
shop. 

"The 'lush banana' is never allowed to ripen on the 
tree, as it falls out of its sheltering purple glove imme- 
diately on coming to maturity. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 5^9 

" I have spoken of the exceeding beauty of the Cuban 
nights, and of the golden moon, which pours over the 
tropical landscape a flood of luxurious splendor, quite 
unimaginable by those who have but watched her climb 
the northern sky with a wan face, and with sad steps. 
Beneath the moon, too, and the stars, the night glances 
with living meteors. The cucullos are indeed incon- 
ceivably brilliant. ' Watchmen of the insects,' a 
lovely, quick-witted boy of four summers, the child 
of one of my friends, called these torchbearers when 
he first saw them ; and flying in long lines, with 
their double lights, they do produce an effect sim- 
ilar to that of the long processions of the watch at 
Havana. 

"The light of the cucuUo is really strong enough to serve 
as a candle. It is also very delicate, a fine green luminous- 
ness, precisely like the effulgence which emeralds shed 
upon a lovely neck. But the emeralds of inca or sultan 
may soon be counted, and these glories are showered 
indifferently into the verandah of the noble and the 
baracon of the slave. Children delight in them, keep- 
ing them shut up by forties and fifties in little cages of 
reeds. They are carefully washed at morning and night, 
and fed with sugar-cane (if fed with sugar the saccha- 
rine particles adhere to their legs, and they fall upon 
each other like Kilkenny cats), and in this way may be 
kept alive and shining for many days. They have been 
carried thus to New York, and set free in New York, to 
the great wonderment of the Gothamites. The nature of 
their light I do not know. But all the under part of the 
body is transparent, and the light appears to be under 
the cucullo's control, flashing and failing like the bottled 
up auroras of Prof L — at Cambridge. The calm eter- 

C — 30 



520 THS: STORY OP CUBA. 

nal stars look hardly more divine than these mortal 
stars, that seem to cheat us poor moths out of our 

*' Devotion to something afar 
From the sphere of our sorrow." 



As a money winner the Cuban tobacco ranks next 
to sugar, and is famous throughout the world. Up to 
the year 1791 the " Commercial Company of Havana " 
delivered the tobacco of Cuba to the royal factories in 
Spain under contracts which were renewed from time 
to time with the government. The establishment of a 
government "Factoria de Tobacco" in Havana suc- 
ceeded that company. The tobacco was classified as 
superior, medium, and inferior, and was received from 
the growers at fixed prices; in 1804 these were six, five, 
and two and a half dollars per arrobe [A Spanish unit 
of weight nominally a fourth part of a hundred weight, 
but with local variations from 25 to 32 pounds avoirdu- 
pois.] ($24, $20, and $10 per quintal) respectively. 

" By comparing the different prices with the quantity 
of each class of tobacco produced, we find that the 
'Factoria' paid an average price of $16 per quintal for 
the leaf tobacco. With the expense of manufacture, 
the cigars cost the government seventy-five cents per 
pound ; snuff", fine grain and good color, 42^ cents, and 
common soft, or Seville, 18^ cents a pound, in Havana. 
In good years, when the crop (the product of advances 
made by the 'Factoria' to poor cultivators) amounted 
to 350,000 arrobes of leaf, 128,000 arrobes were manu- 
factured for Spain, 80,000 for Havana, 9,200 for Peru, 
6,000 for Buenos Ayres, 2,240 for Mexico, and 1,100 for 
Caracas and Campeachy. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 52 1 

" In order to make up the amount of 315,000 arrobes 
(for the crop loses ten per cent, of its weight, in loss 
and damage in the transportation and manufacture) we 
must suppose that 80,000 arrobes were consumed in the 
interior of the Island ; that is, in the country, where the 
royal monopoly did not extend. The maintenance of 
120 slaves and the expenses of manufacture did not 
exceed $12,000 yearly; but the salaries of the officers of 
the 'Factoria' amounted to $541,000. The value of 
the 128,000 arrobes of tobacco sent to Spain, in the 
abundant years, either in cigars, leaf or snuff, at the 
customary prices there, exceeded the sum of five million 
dollars. 

" It is surprising to see in the returns of exports 
from Havana (documents published by the Consulado) 
that the exports for 1816 were only 3,400 arrobes; for 
the year 1823, only 13,900 arrobes of leaf tobacco and 
71,000 pounds of sugar, the value of which was esti- 
mated by the custom house at $281,000; and in 1825 
only 70,302 pounds of cigars and 167,100 pounds of leaf 
tobacco and strips ; but we must remember that no 
branch of the contraband trade is more active than that 
in cigars. The tobacco of the Vuelta de Abajo is more 
celebrated, but large quantities are exported which are 
produced in the eastern part of the Island. The culti- 
vation of tobacco has been one of the most uncertain 
branches of industry in Cuba. Trammeled by restric- 
tions and exactions, it was confined almost entirely to 
the poorer classes of the population, who were enabled 
to raise a scanty and uncertain crop through the ad- 
vances of capital made them by the ' Factoria.' After 
the suppression of this monopoly, it has had to contend 
with the more popular and profitable pursuits of coffee 



522 THE SrORY OF CUBA. 

and sugar planting, which have successfully competed 
with it for the employment of the skill, capital, and 
labor of the Island." 

The Vuelta de Abajo owes its fine and universally 
esteemed quality of tobacco probably as much to the 
physical formation of the country as to any peculiar 
quality of its soil. Along the northern border of the 
district, where the best tobacco is grown, lies the high 
Sierra de los Organos, gathering, in rains upon its 
northern slopes, the moisture borne landward by the 
constantly prevailing trade winds, and this, with the 
effect of the surrounding heated waters of the Carib- 
bean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, give to the region 
south of this ridge a character of climate peculiarly its 
own. It is in this region that Maceo's raids have been 
so ruinous to the industry. 

The hurricanes of Cuba can hardly be regarded as a 
resource or beauty, and they are not attractive, and 
picturesque is hardly the word. They received scant 
attention from Humboldt, who visited the Island in 
the beginning of the present century, since which only 
two hurricanes have been experienced there. The first 
of these occurred on the 4th and 5th of October, 1844. 
It began about ten o'clock on the evening of the 4th, 
and continued with great violence until daylight, when 
the point of greatest descent of the barometer, 28.27, 
was observed. From that time it subsided, and the 
torrents of rain began to cease, but the wind continued 
to blow with great violence until 10 a.m. This storm 
passed over all the zone of the country comprised 
between Bahia Honda and Sierra Morena on the north, 
and Galafre and Cienfuegos on the south side of Cuba. 
One hundred and fifty-eight vessels were wrecked in 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 523 

the harbors and on the coasts, and one hundred and 
one Hves were lost. 

The crops suffered severely, and 2,546 houses were 
destroyed. The second hurricane occurred in the fol- 
lowing year, and was more destructive than the pre- 
ceding one. It began about midnight of the loth of 
October, and increased in violence, with torrents of 
rain and spray, until 10:30 a.m. of the nth, when the 
barometer had fallen to 27.06, the lowest point it has 
ever been known to touch in Cuba. Its ravages ex- 
tended over nearly the same extent of country with 
that of 1844, but its greatest violence was confined to a 
circle of about 40 miles radius round Havana. Two 
hundred and twenty-six vessels were lost, 1,872 houses 
were blown down, 5,051 partially destroyed, and 114 
persons perished. 

During both of these hurricanes the wind veered to 
every point of the compass, and the salt spray was car- 
ried fifteen or twenty miles inland, blackening vegeta- 
tion as though fire had passed over it. 

The American Encyclopaedia gives these figures of 
the extent of the Island : " The greatest length of the 
Island, measured through the centre, is given by differ- 
ent authorities from 750 to 793 English miles ; the great- 
est width, 50 miles west of Santiago, is about 127 miles ; 
from Havana to the southern coast at Batabano, it is 
only about 28 miles across the Island. The area of the 
Island has been variously estimated. In 1825 it was 
computed by Senor Bauza, at the request of Humboldt, 
and found to be 3,681 square maritime leagues of 20 to 
the degree. This included the Isle of Pines, on the 
southern coast, the area of which is 98 leagues. The 
latest estimates of the area, converted into Enorlish stat- 



524 



THE STORY OP CUBA. 



ute miles, are from 42,383 to 45,277. The Isle of Pines 
contains besides 810 square miles, and othet small 
islands, 970, making that of the whole territory belong- 
ing to Cuba from 44,163 to 47,057 square miles. The 
length of shore line on the south side is 301 leagues, 
and on the north, 272 leagues ; that of the whole Island 
may be called about 2,000 English miles." 

It will be observed that in dimensions Cuba closely 
corresponds with the state of New York. The difficulty 
of soldiering in this country appears in this outline 
sketch of the swamps and their relations to the moun- 
tains and the sea. For the most part low tracts inter- 
vene between the central elevations and the shore on 
either side; and in the wet season these are inundated, and 
rendered almost impassable by the depth of water and the 
tenacity of the deep black mud. From Jagua to Point 
Sabina on the south side, the country is a continuous 
swamp for 46 leagues, and the same may be said of 
many other less extensive tracts on the north side. 

There are limestone formations in the Island, cav- 
ernous like that of such mammoth cave celebrity in 
Kentucky, and, that nothing may be lacking, there are 
true marbles and petroleum springs. Once — from 1724 
to 1795 — Havana was the port where the ships of Spain 
were built — 114 vessels of 4,902 guns were constructed 
there — but this was stopped on the complaint that Spain 
must build ships at home. Cuba had too many facil- 
ities for the work to be allowed to carry it on. 

On all the coasts of Cuba, but principally on the north- 
ern, are found immense deposits of salt. 

The astonishing value of Cuban w^ood was one of the 
things that were discovered by Columbus. Among the 
woods are the lignum vitae ; the cocoa wood or cocus. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERIY. 525 

which somewhat resembles the Hgnum vitae, and is used 
for similar purposes, as also for pins, and tree nails, and 
for turnery, making excellent flutes ; the lance wood, 
largely exported for carriage shafts, surveyors' instru- 
ments, and other uses. Mahogany is so abundant, and 
the quality of the wood is so superior, that it has been, 
since its first use in London, in 1724, an important item 
in the exports of the Island. Belonging to the same 
natural order is the cedrela odorata of Linnaeus, and 
there much used, as also in the United States, for the 
inside of drawers and wardrobes. It is the material of 
the cigar boxes. 

Humboldt, citing the several species of palm, of which 
he enumerates five, remarks that " we might believe that 
the entire island was originally a forest of palms and 
wild lime and orange trees." These last, which have 
a small fruit, are probably anterior to the arrival 
of the Europeans, who carried there the agrumi of the 
gardens, which rarely exceed ten or fifteen feet in 
height. 

There was but little gold found in Cuba, but, what 
was much better, a great deal of coal. Cuba has but 
one peculiar animal, and it resembles a big rat. There 
is also a big snake, quite harmless, and one, not so big, 
that is venomous, but not numerous or deadly. 

There are 200 species of indigenous birds, many of 
them very brilliant. The fish are abundant, and rival 
the birds in beauty. The oysters are delicious, and the 
turtles crawl abundantly over the coral islands. The 
forests and fruits are thus treated by the Encyclopaedia 
Britannica : 

"The forests of Cuba are of vast extent, and so dense 
as to be almost impenetrable. It is estimated that of 



526 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

nearly 20,000,000 acres of land still remaining perfectly- 
wild and uncultivated, nearly 13,000,000 are uncleared 
forests. Mahogany and other hard woods, such as the 
Cuban ebony, cedar, sabicei and granadilla, valuable 
for manufactures, cabinet work and ship building, are 
indigenous, and are exported to a considerable extent. 
The palm is the queen of the Cuban forests, and the 
most valuable tree on the Island. The most common 
species, the Palma Real (Oreodoxo regia), is found in 
all parts, but especially in the west. The fruits of Cuba 
are those common to the tropics, of which the pine- 
apple and orange are the most esteemed. Of the ali- 
mentary plants, the plaintain is by far the most impor- 
tant." 

And we quote the same authority on sugar, coffee 
and tobacco : 

" The United States take about 70 or 80 per cent, of 
the sugar grown in Cuba, the greater part of the re- 
mainder passing to Europe. The quantity exported in 
1873 from the ports of Havana, Matanzas, Cardenas, 
Sagua la Grande, Remedies, Nuevitas, Santiago de 
Cuba, Trinidad and Cienfuegos exceeded 600,000 tons, 
of a value of about ^12,000,000. Besides this, 242,000 
tons of molasses were exported. After the ' ingenios ' 
the 'cafetales' or coffee estates are the most important 
establishments. They vary in extent from 100 to up- 
wards of 1,000 acres, or even more in the mountain 
districts, the number of hands employed being as high 
as 100 in the low country, but generally averaging fifty 
or sixty negroes to 1,000 acres. The first coffee planta- 
tion was established in 1748, the seeds having been 
brought from San Domingo. Though at one time 
coffee was sent out from Cuba in enormous quantities, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 52/ 

it does not now figure largely in the exports. Tobacco 
is indigenous to Cuba, and its excellent quality is cel- 
ebrated in all parts of the world. The estates devoted 
to its cultivation are scattered over the greater part of 
the Island, but the finest qualities of tobacco are those 
grown in the country west of Havana, known as the 
' Vuelta Abajo.' In 1873, 224,765,000 cigars were ex- 
ported, besides nearly 13,500,000 lbs. of leaf. 

''The backv/ard state of education is one of the griev- 
ances of the Cubans. 

"The Roman Catholic is the only one religion tol- 
erated by the government. At first there was but one 
diocese, which included not only the whole Island, but 
also Louisiana and the two Floridas, all under one 
bishop. In 1788 Cuba was divided into two dioceses, 
each embracing half the Island. The eastern diocese, 
or that of Santiago de Cuba, was, in 1804, erected into 
an archbishopric, while that of Havana still remains 
under a bishop. 

" The crown revenues of the Island are the rentas- 
maritimas, including duties on imports, exports and 
tonnage, and the local or municipal duties levied at 
some of the custom houses ; the impuestas interiores, 
including the tax on home manufactures, the sale of 
stamped paper, the profits derived from the lottery, and 
the impost on cock-fights ; deductions from the rentas- 
ecclesiasticas, particularly those called the royal ninths 
and the consolidated funds, the sinking fund, the media 
annata, and the annual and monthly revenues of the 
clergy ; personal deductions, such as from the pay of 
public functionaries, and the price of exemption from 
military service ; miscellaneous receipts, as the produce 
of the sale of royal lands, the rents of vacant livings 



528 THE STORY OF CUBA.^ 

and of unclaimed estates, the produce of vendible 
offices, and casual receipts, including deposits, confisca- 
tions, donations, and the recovery of arrears." 

Concerning the mountains, we quote the Encyclopae- 
dia Britannica : 

"The highest part of the Island is in the range exten- 
tending in the southeast from the Punta de Maysi to 
Cape Cruse, called the Sierra or Montafios de Maestra 
or Cobre, the summits of which are the Pico de Tar- 
quino, 7,670 feet, the highest point of the whole Island ; 
Gran Piedra, 5,200 feet ; Yunque and Ojo del Tore, 
3,500. From this Sierra a ridge of much smaller general 
elevation follows nearly the central line of the Island 
westward throughout its extent, rising to form a marked 
range in the extreme west of Cuba, on which the Pan 
de Guajaibon attains 2,530 feet. An almost isolated 
mass of which the Pico de Potrerillo is the summit, 
2,990 feet above the sea, rises immediately behind the 
harbor of Trinidad, near the centre of the southern 
coastland. 

" The rivers are necessarily short, and flow toward the 
north and south. The largest is the Cauto, rising in the 
Sierra del Cobre, and falling into the Bay of Buena Es- 
peranza on the southern coast, after a course of fifty 
leagues, for twenty of which it is navigable by boats, 
though at low water obstructed by bars. The Sagua 
la Grande rises in the Sierra del Escambray, and falls 
into the sea in front of the Boca de Maravillas, being 
navigable for five leagues. 

" Situated within, and near the border of the northern 
tropical zone, the climate of the low coastlands of Cuba 
is that of the torrid zone, but the higher interior of the 
Island enjoys a more temperate atmosphere. On a 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 529 

mean of seven years, the rainfall at Havana in the wet 
season has been observed to be 27.8 inches, of the dry 
months 12.7 or 40.5 inches for the year. At Havana in 
the warmest months, those of July and August, the 
average temperature is 82 Fahr., fluctuating between a 
maximum of 88° and a minimum of 76° ; in the cooler 
months of December and January, the thermometer 
averages 72°, the maximum being 78°, the minimum 58° ; 
the average temperature of the year at Havana, on a 
mean of seven years, is ']']°y 

But it is fair that our readers should hear a cry from 
Cuba of poverty, and we find it in " Cuba and the 
Cubans," by Raimundo Cabrera. 

" Oh, we are truly rich ! 

" From 182 1 to 1826, Cuba, with her own resources, 
covered the expenditures of the treasury. Our opu- 
lence dates from that period. We had already suffi- 
cient negro slaves to cut down our virgin forests, and 
ample authority to force them to work. . . . . 

" By means of our vices and our luxury, and in spite 
of the hatred of everything Spanish, which Moreno at- 
tributed to us, we sent, in 1827, the first little million of 
hard cash to the treasury of the nation. From that 
time, until 1864, we continued to send yearly to the 
mother-country two millions and a half of the same 
stuff. According to several Spanish statisticians, these 
sums amounted, in 1864, to $89,107,287. We were very 
rich, don't you see ? tremendously rich. We contribu- 
ted more than five million dollars towards the require- 
ments of the Peninsular — $5,372,205. We paid, in great 
part, the cost of the war in Africa. The individual do- 
ations alone amounted to fabulous sums. 

" But, of course, we have never voted for our own im- 



530 THE SrORY OF CUBA. 

posts ; they have been forced upon us because we are so 
rich. In 1862, we had in a state of* production the fol- 
lowing estates : 2,712 stock farms, 1,521 sugar planta- 
tions, 782 coffee plantations, 6,175 cattle ranches, 18 
cocoa plantations, 35 cotton plantations, 22,748 produce 
farms, 11,738 truck farms, 11,541 tobacco plantations, 
1,731 apiaries, 153 country resorts, 243 distilleries, 468 
tile-works, 504 lime-kilns, 63 charcoal furnaces, 54 cas- 
ava-bread factories, and 61 tanneries. To-day I do not 
know what we possess, because there are no statistics, 
and because the recently organized assessment ■ is a 
hodge-podge and a new burden ; but we have more than 
at that time ; surely, we must have a great deal more. 
" For a very long time we have borne the expenses of 
the convict settlement of Fernando Po. We paid for 
the ill-starred Mexican expedition, the costs of the war 
in San Domingo, and with the republics of the Pacific ; 
how can we possibly be poor ? While England, France 
and Holland appropriate large sums for the require- 
ments of their colonies, Spain does not contribute a sin- 
gle cent for hers. We do not need it ; we are wading deep 
in rivers of gold. If the fertility of our soil did not come 
to our rescue, we must, perforce, have become enriched 
by the system of protection to the commerce of the 

mother-country The four columns of the 

tariff are indeed a sublime invention. Our agricultural 
industries require foreign machinery, tools and utensils, 
which Spain does not supply, but, as she knows that we 
have gold to spare, she may make us pay for them very 
high. And since our sugar is to be sold to the United 
States . . never mind what they cost. When there 
are earthquakes in Andalusia and inundations in Mur- 
cia, hatred does not prevent us from sending to our af- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 53 I 

flicted brethren large sums. . . (which sometimes 
fail to reach their destination). 

" We are opulent ? Let us see if we are. From the 
earliest times down to the present the officials who come 
to Cuba amass, ift the briefest space of time, fortunes to 
be dissipated in Madrid, and which appear never to dis- 
turb their consciences. This country is very rich, incal- 
culably rich. In 1830 we contributed $6,120,934 ; in 
1840, $9,605,877 ; in 1850, $10,074,677 ; in i860, $29,610,- 
779. Daring the war we did not merely contribute ; we 
bled.^'-^We had to carry the budget of $82,000,000. 

" We count 1,500,000 inhabitants ; that is to say, one 
million and a half of vicious^ voluptuous, pompous 
spendthrifts, full of hatred and low passions, who con- 
tribute to the public charges and never receive a cent 
in exchange ; who have given as much as $92 per cap- 
ita, and who at the present moment pay to the state 
what no other taxpayers the world over have ever con- 
tributed. Does any one say that we are not prodig- 
iously, enviably rich ? " 



532 THE STORY OF CUBA. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE ANCIENT RECORDS OF THE ISLAND. 

The Words in Spanish and Rendered in English with which Columbus 
Reports the Discovery of Cuba — The Words in which he Reported 
the Smoking of Tobacco by the Islanders — The Account of the 
First Mass Celebrated in the New World. 

We reserve for a special chapter the interesting 
first records of the long story. They possess the 
greatest value, and have been accurately produced by 
careful investigation. The accepted account of the 
first mass in America is wrong. The truth is here set 
forth. The temple in Havana marks the spot where 
the first celebration occurred on the site of the city. 

It was during the voyage the first mass was said that 
Columbus discovered Jamaica, and he sailed west as 
far as the Isle of Pines. A few days more would 
have informed him that he had found a great island, 
and not a continent as he believed all his life. He 
had been dead two years when Cuba was first circum- 
navigated. 

Columbus saw for the first time the land of the island 
of Cuba in the afternoon of the 27th October, 1492, and 
on the following day, Sunday the 28th, entered a river 
on its northern coast. He called this river San Salva- 
dor, and to the Island he gave the name oi Juana. He 
then took possession of the new territory for the king 
and queen of Castile, and sailed along its coast until 
the 5th of December, in which time he visited five har- 




iM en 

> s 

w 5 






HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY, 535 

bors named by him Puerto y Rio de Mares, Mar de 
Nuestra Sefiora, Puerto Principe, Santa Catalina y Puerto 
Sa7ito. 

Here is his own statement in old Spanish and with 
the old spelhng. 

" Cuando yo llegue a la Juana segui yo la costa della 
poniente y la falle tan grande que pense que seria tierra 
firme, la prouincia de Catayo, y como no falle asi villas 
y lugares en la costa de la mar, salvo pequenas pob- 
laciones, con la gente de las cuales no podia hauer fabla, 
porque luego fuyan todos, andaua yo adelante por el 
dicho camino, pensando de no errar grandes ciudades 
o villas, y al cabo de muchas leguas visto que no hauia 
innovacion y que la costa me leuaua al setentrion, de 
donde mi voluntad era contraria, por que el yuierno era 
ya encarnado, yo tenia proposito de hazer del austro y 
tanbien el viento me dio adelante, determine de no 
aguardar otro tiempo, y bolui atras fasta un senalado 
puerto da donde embie dos hombres por la tierra para 
saber si hauia rey o grandes ciudades. Andouieron 
tres jornadas y hallaron infinitas poblaciones pequenas 
y gente sin numero, mas no cosa de regimiento, por lo 
qual se boluieron. Yo entendia harta de otros jndios 
que ya tenia tomados commo continuamente esta tierra 
era isla, et asi segui la costa della al oriente ciento y 
siete leguas faste donde fazia fin : del qual cabo vi otra 
isla al oriente distante de esta diez e ocho leguas, a la 
qual luego puse nombre la Espanola, y fui alii y segui 
la parte del setentrion asi como de la Juana, al oriente 
clxxxiij grandes leguas por linia recta del oriente, la 
cual y todas las otras son fertilisimas en demasiado 
grado, y esta en estremo ; en ella ay muchos puertos 
enla costa dela mar, sin comparacion de otros que yo 



53^ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

sepa en christianos, y fartos rios, y buenos, y grandes, 
que es marauilla. Las tierras della son altas y en ella 
muy muchas sierras y montanas altissimas sin compara- 
cion de la isla de Teneryfe. Son todas fermossissimas 
de mill fechuras y todas andabiles y llenas de arboles 
de mil maneras y altas y parecen que Uegan al cielo ; y 
tengo por dicho que jamas pierden la foja, segun puedo 
comprender que los vi tan verdes y tan hermosos 
commo son en Mayo en Spana, y dellos stavan floridos, 
dellos confruto, y dellos en otro termino segun es su 
calidad ; y cantaua el ruisenol y otros paxaricos de mil 
maneras en el mes de nouiembre por alii donde yo an- 
daua. Ay palmas de seys o de ocho maneras, que es 
admiracion verlas por la disformidad fermosa dellas 
mas assi commo los otros arboles y frutos et yeruas. 
En ella hay pinares a marauilla, e ay canpinas grandis- 
simas et ay mjel, y de muchas maneras de aves y frutas 
muy diversas. En las tierras ay muchas minas de 
metales et ay gente inestimable numero," etc.* 

TRANSLATION. 

" When I reached Juana, I followed its coast to the 
westward, and found it so large that I thought that it 
must be mainland, the province of Cathay ; and as I 
found neither towns nor villages on the seacoast, but 
only some hamlets, with the inhabitants of which I 
could not hold conversation, because they all imme- 
diately fled, I kept on the same route, thinking t\at I 
could not fail to light upon some large cities or towns. 

" At length, after the proceeding of many leagues, and 

*The above is quoted from \\\% first letter \.o Santangel, the chancellor of the ex- 
chequer of Aragon, dated at Lisbon, the 14th March, 1493, just on his return from 
his first voyage. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 537 

finding that nothing new presented itself, and that the 
coast was leading me northwards (which I wished to 
avoid, because winter had already set in, and it was my 
intention to move southwards ; and because, moreover, 
the winds were contrary), I resolved not to wait for a 
change in the weather, but returned to a certain harbor 
which I had remarked, and from which I sent two men 
ashore to ascertain whether there was any king or large 
cities in that part. They journeyed for three days, and 
found countless small hamlets, with numberless inhab- 
itants, but with nothing like order ; they, therefore, 
returned. In the meantime I had learned from some 
other Indians, whom I had seized, that this land was 
certainly an island ; accordingly, I followed the coast 
eastward for a distance of 107 leagues, where it ended in 
a cape. From this cape I saw another island to the east- 
ward, at a distance of eighteen leagues from the former, 
to which I gave the name of La Espanola. Thither I 
went, and followed its northern coast (just the same as 
I had done with the coast of Juana) 118 full miles due 
east. This island, like all others, is extraordinarily 
large, and this one extremely so. In it are many sea- 
ports, with which none that I know in Christendom can 
bear comparison, so good and capacious that it is a won- 
der to see. The lands are high, and there are many 
lofty mountains, with which the islands of Tenerife can- 
not be compared. They are all most beautiful, of a 
tholisand different shapes, accessible, and covered with 
trees of a thousand kinds, of such great height that they 
seem to reach the skies. I am told that the trees never 
lose their foliage, and I can well understand it, for 
I observed that they were as green and luxuriant as in 

Spain in the month of May. Some were in bloom, others 

C-31 



538 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

bearing fruit, and others otherwise, according to their 
nature. The nightingale was singing, as well as other 
little birds of a thousand different kinds, and that 
in November, the month in which I was roaming 
amongst them. There are palm-trees of six or eight, 
kinds, wonderful in their beautiful variety ; but this is 
the case with all other trees and fruits and grasses. It 
contains extraordinary pine groves and very extensive 
plains. There is also honey, and a great variety of 
birds, and many different kinds of fruits. In the interior 
there are many mines of metals, and a population innu- 
merable," etc. 

On the 29th April, 1494, Columbus left La Espail- 
ola in order to visit the southern coast of Cuba, and 
two days afterwards arrived at the harbor of Guanta- 
namo, which he called Puerto Grande. Following his 
voyage in another direction, he discovered Jamaica, and 
then returned to Cuba and reached the Cabo Cruz on 
the 1 8th May, continued his sailing westwards and 
found the numerous archipelago now known as El 
Cayo de las Doce Leguas, which he called Jardines de 
la Reina (" the Gardens of the Queen "). On the 22d he 
stopped at the largest of those islands, and gave it the 
name of Santa Marta. 

Again going towards the coast, he entered the Hati- 
bdnico River on the 3d of June, and found a great num- 
ber of natives, who gave the new comers a hearty recep- 
tion. After further exploration, made westwards along 
the coast, and having discovered the Isle of Pines, that 
he called Isla del Evangelista, he sailed once more 
eastwards and landed on the shores of the Hatibonico 
on Sunday, the 6th of July, 1494. 

His first action there was to thank the Almighty for 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY, 539 

having preserved him and his men after so many dan- 
gers and tribulations they had been in. To that effect 
he ordered that a rustic altar be provided, and on this 
the first mass w^as celebrated on Cuban soil. 

Natives in large numbers witnessed the imposing 
ceremonial, and were greatly and favorably impressed 
with the sight of it. An old man, whom all other 
Indians seemed to respect, was deeply moved, and, 
through interpreter Diego, addressed Columbus in the 
following words : 

"It seems to me that you have just done a good 
thing, for you have worshipped your God. Although, 
as I hear, you come from foreign lands wnth great 
armaments to conquer many nations and countries, do 
not fill yourself with pride for that. Know you that in 
future life there are two different places where the souls 
go ; one is full of pleasures and happiness, and is re- 
served for those who were good ; in the other one, 
which is dark and horrible, the bad are to groan. If 
you are a mortal and fear eternal punishment, do not 
harm those who do not harm you, and you will surely 
get your reward." 

Columbus also felt deeply moved by the words of 
the old Indian, and answered him he was glad to see 
that the belief of those natives was so similar to the 
principles of true religion ; that the king and queen of 
Spain had not sent him to subject people, but to further 
enlighten them with the teachings of true religion, and 
to protect them against the raids of their cruel enemies, 
the Caribbeans, for which reason all Cubans should look 
upon him as their friend and defender. 

The words of Columbus and what the interpreter 
added in regard to the power and riches of the Castil- 



540 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

ian monarchy, made the old Indian to feel so much as- 
tonishment and gladness that he wanted to sail with 
the Spaniards and see the European countries, but his 
wife and children pleaded so earnestly with him, much 
to his sorrow, that he finally desisted from his intended 
voyage. 

This is the account of the discovery of the use of to- 
bacco, as given by Father Las Casas, in his " General 
History of the Indians : " 

" Hallaron por el caminomucha gente que atravesa- 
ban a sus pueblos, mugeres y hombres : siempre los 
hombres con un tizon en las manos y ciertas yerbas 
secas metidas en una cierta hoja seca tambien a manera 
de mosquete hecho de papel de los que hacen los mu- 
chachos la Pascua del Espiritu Santo, y encendido por 
una parte de el, por la otra chupan 6 sorben 6 reciben 
con el resuello por adentro aquel humo ; con el cual se 
adormecen las carnes y cuasi emborracha y asi diz que 
no sienten el cansancio. Estos mosquetes 6 como los 
llamaremos, llaman el los tabacosT 

TRANSLATION \ 

"They met on the way many people who were going 
to their villages, both women and men ; the men always 
carrying in their hands a burning piece of wood and 
certain dry herbs rolled in a certain leaf, also dry, 
in the fashion of those paper tubes the boys make on 
the feast of the Holy Ghost, and it is burning on one 
end, while from the other end they puff or draw or take 
out with the breath from the inside that smoke with 
which they get drowsy and almost drunk ; and it is 
said that in this way they do not feel fatigue. These 
tubes, or whatever we may call them, they call iabacos." 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 541 

These are the words of Las Casas. It may be added, 
that the name of the weed was not tabaco, the meaning 
of the word tabaco corresponds exactly to what we now 
call cigar, but the name of the manufactured article was 
afterwards extended to the plant producing the leaf 
used. The Indian name for the plant and leaf was 
Cohiba. 



542 ^ THE STORY OF CUJSA. 



CHAPTER XXX. 

THE SITUATION WHEN WEYLER ARRIVED. 

Monotony of Military Situation — The Trocha as a Spanish Delusion — 
Strange Paralysis of the Army of Spain — How It Pays to Keep Full 
Prisons — Corrupt Sluggards — The Combats at Cacarajicara and 
Manzanillo — Troubles of American Correspondents — Captain-Gen- 
eral Weyler's Personality — Gossip About Him — The Filibusters — 
The Strained Relations with Spain in 1873 — Sickles and Fish Dis- 
patches — Settlement of the Virginius Case. 

The journey of the author to Cuba, undertaken while 
General Campos was on the way from the scene of his 
failure to Spain and General Weyler was getting under 
way for the scene of his failure, Cuba, was to find and 
report the truth ; and the presumption was that the dif- 
ferent commanders would produce remarkable events 
and influential changes. 

This was in January, in the midst of the campaigning 
season, and now it is May, at the beginning of the rainy 
season, when it is excessively expensive in the health 
and strength and equipment of the troops to keep the 
field engaging in active work ; and it is the accustomed 
anticipations of those who have had experience of 
Cuban military enterprise, that the military situation 
will not be seriously molested for six months. It was 
not vividly remembered by those who expected a new 
captain-general to produce immediate revolutionary re- 
sults, that the causes of the disorder, the character of 
the people, the comparative resources of the peninsula 

*The events justified this calculation, except as to the surprising stay of Maceo 
in Pinar del Rio. 




CALIXTO GARCIA. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY 545 

of Spain and the Island of Cuba, would continue the 
elements of the conditions of the strife. The quarrel 
and the people are the same and habits grow stronger 
than the will, in men and nations. 

After giving the state of the Island the closest atten- 
tion of which a careful and diligent observer was capa- 
ble, and seeking to subject to critical analysis that 
which was in the air as well as the newspapers, and 
there was a good deal more news atmospheric than was 
printed, the conviction came that the dreary struggle 
would be protracted until the wealth of the Island was 
wasted, the people utterly impoverished, the country 
absolutely ruined, unless there should arise from the 
tumultuous upheavals of the situation changes that 
would permit the separation of Spain and Cuba on 
terms that would not be dishonorable or humiliating to 
either, and the hopeful logic of it all was the amicable 
annexation of Cuba as a state to the United States. 

Nothing phenomenal has happened owing to the 
individualities of the Weyler administration. Martinez 
Campos was so slow when he took command and so 
roughly handled at Bayamo, and General Suarez Val- 
des was so distinctly defeated by Gomez, that General 
Pando was sent over with 30,000 men ; and then the 
insurgents were not checked, but seemed to be rein- 
forced as fast as the Spaniards. Weyler brought rein- 
forcements, and 10,000 good troops speedily followed, 
but the Island absorbed them without a symptom 
of result, and the aggressive forces of Spain have 
seemed rather to relax and recede than become alert 
and advance, and while there are at least 130,000 regular 
troops on the rolls of service in Cuba, there is nothing 
new to show for them. If there cannot be two armies 



546 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

of 50,000 men each massed for strenuous and sweeping 
operations — leaving the 30,000 additional Spanish regu- 
lars and the 60,000 volunteers to do garrison duty — it 
may be considered a settled question there is no more 
hope for the military than for the political situation of 
the Spaniards in the Island. 

Still we find the interest centering upon the alleged 
trocha, which has become a synonym for doing nothing, 
and this lunar object is near the boundary, between the 
provinces of Havana and Pinar del Rio. Now this 
military line across the Island has been the favorite 
scheme of the Spanish tacticians from the first, though 
it has never embarrassed a rebel leader, and it is obvi- 
ously useless unless the insurgent forces west of it are 
under the necessity of crossing it for lack of supplies or 
are hunted from their lairs with a vehement alacrity not 
indicated in any quarter. The line is of no assistance 
to the government except to prevent the escape of the 
insurgents and confine them to be hunted down, and 
they are in no hurry if appearances and accounts are 
trustworthy, and the hunters are sometimes hunted. 

There must be an insurmountable immobility about 
the Spanish troops, the lethargy established by incapac- 
ity in handling them, or something would happen in a 
few weeks when there are 50,000 Spaniards within 
twenty miles of 10,000 rebels — who have no base of op- 
erations and must live on the country and confront an 
enemy wherever they face the sea. 

The rumors change hourly as to the disposition of 
the Spanish masses and Cuban cavalry that should be 
fighting. Why Gomez moved eastward so far in March, 
and for some weeks disappeared, has not been ac- 
counted for with precision, and therefore the news that 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 547 

he is coming back has hardly been received with enthu- 
siasm. The statement that he was driUing recruits and 
resting his men may have been true, but does not cover 
so much time and space as is called for. Still he does 
not seem to be molested as he rides up and down the 
country. 

There are several reasons assigned for Spanish de- 
lays that are not merely of a military or political char- 
acter. It is said that the Spaniards lack dash, because 
their leaders are sluggish and corrupt, and there is a 
steady shower of stories that a great deal of money is 
to be made continually out of an army of 100,000 men 
in the field, and as many more about the towns. The 
insurgents claim to have bought cartridges even in 
Moro Castle, and carried them out in market baskets, 
exchanging for them cigars and silver ; but there are 
so many vivid imaginations in Cuba that no one knows, 
and there are many who ought to care, but do not. 

The brother-in-law of Campos has the reputation con- 
ferred upon him, with endless particulars of gossip, of 
making millions by standing between the army and the 
business men who have contracts for furnishing sup- 
plies, and the specific relation of mysteries goes, that 
the supremely important fort that dominates Havana 
from the land side, and is supposed to be always ready 
to stand a siege, bombard the city if necessary, was 
found by Weyler almost destitute of arms and ammu- 
nition. These reports are steadfastly asserted, and 
largely believed to have many facts to rest upon, be- 
cause there is corruption in all sorts of Spanish admin- 
istration, and the paralysis of the army thereby ac- 
counted for ; but it would make an impression of 
vindictiveness to charge a nation with paresis. 



548 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Walter Dygert, the young American about whose 
imprisonment so much has been said, gives from his 
own experience an explanation of the profitableness of 
having crowded prisons, in these terms : 

" A child may weep at brambles' smart, 
And maidens when their lovers part; 
But woe worth a country when 
She sees the tears of bearded men." 

These lines by the poet, Scott, recurred to me when I saw aged men 
weeping and heart-broken at being separated from their families and 
shut up in this hell. 

But why does the Spanish government shut up helpless cripples and 
non-combatants ? This is a question that puzzled me for some time, 
but I finally solved it, and will answer it after I have described the 
food and water. 

A little after 6 in the morning we were, each of us, given a very small 
cup of coffee. The first meal of the day, if it could be called a meal, 
came after 9 o'clock. It consisted of a little rice, which was generally 
dirty; a few small potatoes, boiled with their skins on, and often partly 
rotten; a little piece of boiled salt beef, or beef cut up in small bits, 
with soup, just about half enough, and of the poorest quality. The meat 
was often spoiled, and unfit for anything but a vulture to eat. The sec- 
ond and last meal of the day came about 4 in the afternoon, and was 
the same as the first. 

I had no opportunity to count the prisoners, but I learned that there 
were about 180 on the average confined there. I learned as definitely 
as I could, without seeing the contract, that a certain party had a con- 
tract to feed these prisoners at twenty-five cents each per day. Thus he 
gets $45 a day, and I learned that the food costs him only $7 to $8 
a day, and, as some of the prisoners did the cooking, his profit can be 
readily seen. On such a contract he could afford to divide with the 
judge and army officers to keep the prison full. 

Perhaps there is money in keeping camps as well as 
prisons full, and in the detention of garrisons and the 
stick-in-the-mud strategy, but it is plain there is much 
rotten tirnber, 



Her struggles for liberty. t^Afy 

Walter S. Whitcomb, of Springfield, Mass., who 
made the most remarkable escape on record from Moro 
Castle a few weeks ago, happening to have money in 
his clothes that escaped the eyes of those who searched 
him, and using it judiciously in the purchase of a rope, 
had been for some time in the camp of Maceo, and 
gives, in an interview with 2i Journal reporter, a remark- 
ably intelligible account of the insurgents : 

"I was mustered into a company, and if I had been 
able to speak the Spanish language better I should have 
been given a command, for I had some military experi- 
ence, having served three years with the New Hamp- 
shire state militia in Keene, N. H. 

" I soon found out how badly ammunition was needed, 
for at that time, you know, they had scarcely any arms, 
and were only provided with machetes. All sorts of 
queer guns were carried, but only a few Mauser rifles. 

" I was astonished to find four companies of women 
with Maceo's army. They were of ages from fifteen to 
forty, and were intensely patriotic and very brave. 
They all carried machetes, and I afterward saw them 
in several engagements, in which they displayed as 
much courage as the men, fighting right in the face of 
bullets and cheering on the men like demons. Many 
of them were mounted on horses and mules. 

" I was in this camp about five weeks. There were 
about twelve thousand men in all. Every morning we 
were called up at 5 by the trumpeter, and a few hours 
were spent in drilling. We had several skirmishes with 
the Spanish, and in nearly every case we drove them 
back, taking prisoners, who readily joined our ranks. 
General Maceo succeeded during- these weeks in takintr 
possession of the entire province of Pinar del Rio. 



550 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

" The insurgents are far more familiar with miUtary 
tactics than the Spanish soldiers, who seem to lack or- 
ganization and are cowards of the worst sort. Why, 
one of the women whipped five of them one day with 
her sugar cane knife. They will never get possession 
of the Island. 

"The insurgents have natural forts which the Spanish 
cannot approach. Many of these are reached only 
through the southern swamps, and here, safely 
ensconced out of reach of the enemy, they have their 
hospitals. They know the entrances to these swamps 
and to caves in the western part of the Island, where 
it would be death for a Spaniard to enter. 

"Much food is sent into the insurgent camps from 
sources no one could guess. While I was in the camp 
I did not suffer for food nor for kindness. We foraged 
a great deal in the surrounding country, but we always 
obtained food from friends when it was possible. 
General Maceo is very courteous, and when people ob- 
jected to giving food or arms, he always explained that 
he would regard it as a loan and that they would be 
repaid some day in full. 

"I saw little cruelty toward the Spanish prisoners. 

Except in the case of spies, who were always hung, the 

\ prisoners were allowed to leave if they wished, after 

their arms had been taken from them. In most cases 

they joined us." 

There are two recent Havana despatches that may 
mean something out of the common, and relieve the 
dull and dreary round of labored bulletins and lively 
fiction. One is that General Pando has delivered the 
command of the province of Santa Clara to General 
Pri, and is going back to Spain. The other point is 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 55 I 

that General Weyler is making ready to leave Havana 
and do something himself. He ought to be ready for 
a start by this time. General Pando is said to be a 
man of whom Weyler is jealous, and, therefore, his 
absence from the scene would be welcome, and a move- 
ment of Weyler in the field would probably be coinci- 
dent with the departure of the most conspicuous of the 
lieutenant-generals — who was not, it is said, allowed 
the troops he needed, because he, being a fighting man, 
might do something conspicuous, and make trouble 
for his superior officer. If Weyler goes out it will, of 
course, signify that he has made ready for a strik- 
ing movement, and it could hardly be anything else 
than a drive at Maceo in overwhelming force, and with 
a quick step unprecedented on the side of the govern- 
ment. 

That Weyler may be up to some desperate work be- 
fore acknowledging himself powerless through the 
rainy season would be in character. Among the in- 
teresting things he said to the writer, however, was 
that he did not mean to regard military operations as 
impraccicable during the wet weather. That he will 
have to take some personal risk in the field is certain, 
but there is something of that every day in the palace 
and on the streets of Havana. If Maceo's troopers 
knew he was in their vicinity, they would, no doubt, 
however he might be guarded, try a machete charge, 
and the glory of getting at him with a big knife would 
be very attractive. The greatest danger of the general 
would probably be from sharp-shooters. Rifles are of 
such long range now that in the hands of experts they 
are deadly far beyond the records on battlefields up to 
the day of the latest improvements in arms of precision. 



552 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



An officer is not safe where a hostile rifleman can make 
out his uniform with a field glass. 

The Cubans tell of a sharp-shooter with Maceo, who, 
two months ago, had killed seven Spanish officers, and 
they managed to keep him well supplied with car- 
tridges ! The fall of Spanish officers in numbers out of 
numerical proportion to the number of private soldiers 
killed, is frequently a feature of the reports, though it 
may be that one reason is the death of an important 
man cannot be concealed. 

The recently reported heavy fighting in the west be- 
tween Spanish columns and detachments from Maceo's 
command have, no doubt, some foundation, but there 
is as little question the details had been exaggerated. 
The reports of superhuman bravery on both sides are 
uncommonly copious and urgent just now, and remind 
us of the like literary enthusiasms in the early skirmishes 
of our civil war. After we had heard from the insur- 
gents about their superb achievements, carrying every- 
thing before them, annihilating regiment after regiment, 
the Spaniards captured one of Maceo's forts, and we 
read of the " storming of Cacarajicara," in the western 
Cuban mountains, and there was a march " up heights 
under fire," and this is done by the very Inclan, the 
Spaniard whose column was several times destroyed in 
telegrams by way of Key West. 

A countryman is said to have told the location of 
Maceo's camp. As it has been for a month within fif 
teen miles of the Spanish trocha, there should not have 
been protracted perplexity in finding it. A movement 
was made, and the troops pushed " forward through a 
scattering fire from the ambushed rebels, until they 
reached a pocket in the road, where a town showed and 



HE.R STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 553 

the fortifications above. The firing was now general 
all along the line. Darkness found the troops in this 
position. They were kept awake all night under con- 
stant fire, with no food or drink. At the first sight of 
dawn the Spanish general ordered the guns to the 
front, to attack the intrenchments. The insurgents 
made an assault upon the artillery men with their 
machetes, but were " driven back forty feet from the can- 
non by a wall of troops. A tall, bearded man, stick in 
hand, urged the rebels to fall on the Spaniards, but they 
refused, and retreated. A bayonet charge was then 
ordered, and the soldiers patriotically rushed into the 
ditch, driving out the rebels. One of those who de- 
fended the fort, and fl.ed with the others, was a woman." 
The return march, w^hich was made immediately, " was 
very difficult, the enemy being scattered all through the 
hills, and firing from every point. The progress was 
slow, on account of the wounded soldiers." 

Now one is called upon to have misgiving whether 
this was a triumphal way of returning from a conquest. 
Suarez Inclan made an address, thanking his soldiers 
for their valor, which, he said, " deserved a place in the 
best pages of Spanish history." He said: 

The enemy was concentrated in the thick woods and high hills, and 
the road was well fortified with trenches at different points. Our posi- 
tion was most difficult. 

With all these obstacles, with the superior forces united, trying to 
defeat and destroy us, half a brigade, formed of soldiers of the San 
Fernando and Baleares battalions and a section of the Fifth Mountain 
artillery, showed true heroism, and were ready to conquer or die for 
their country. They proved able to face and beat the enemy that tried 
to surround us in the pass of Cacarajicara on our return. 

I was much pleased with the spirit of sacrifice under severe discipline. 
My men were under furious fire in the attacks and in marching, but our 



554 > THE STORY OF CUBA. 

efforts were crowned with victory, and the efforts of Maceo's forces, the 
most determined of the insurrection, were foiled. Those of Socarras 
gave way, leaving" us a position that might have been impregnable. We 
did not cede a foot, though Quintin Bandera attacked us at night and 
endeavored to recapture the hill. 

Maceo's big forces also tried for six hours to harrass our rear guard, 
endeavoring to make disorder in the column, while Pilar Rojas attacked 
the head and left flank. The fortifications were razed, and Socarras 
and Pilar Rojas were wounded. Hundreds more are dead and wounded. 
It was not possible for us to escape serious losses. We made a glorious 
sacrifice for our country. 

There is an exactness in this that arouses suspicion. 
What was the march made for if not to hold the 
ground ? Why is stress placed upon the furious efforts of 
the rebels to destroy the Spaniards ? The rebels are really 
inadvertently credited with taking the offensive. It is 
vague to say hundreds of rebels were dead and wound- 
ed. It is not giving much information to say that forti- 
fications were razed. "Serious losses," confessed in an 
affair where escape from a bad position was regarded 
as a victory, means much. This amounts to a Spanish 
official report that Maceo is well fortified, and is not 
troubled at all about the trocha. 

The despatch by James Creelman, of May 6th, via 
Key West, says the battle in the mountain at Cacaraji- 
cara was a Spanish defeat ; but Maceo was not there, 
being six miles away, looking for another attack. The 
fighting was severe, and sixteen wounded officers have 
reached Havana. This latest from this correspondent is : 

"Gen. Weyler is desperate, and insists that Gen. 
Maceo must attack the trocha whether he wants to or 
not. Otherwise what is the use of having a trocha at 
all? 

" Gen. Maceo intends to remain in the hills so that 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 555 

when the rains come the Spanish in the low country 
will be washed out. His position is defended on all 
sides by well-built breastworks. 

"The military situation in the Island is this: Maceo 
commands in the west, Garcia in the east and Gomez 
in the middle, with authority over all. 

" Gomez is in a position to go to the support of either 
his eastern or western generals or to have them c^me 
to him." , 

Concerning the jealousies it is claimed exist among 
Spanish officers, preventing full and energetic em- 
ployment of the troops. Captain -General Weyler has 
been reported to have said that it spoiled a Spanish of- 
ficer in Cuba ; if he reached rank above a colonelcy, he 
wanted a column to handle for his own convenience, 
and grew careless about obeying orders. A few weeks 
after Weyler's arrival there were statements current in 
Havana to the effect that several prominent officers 
were to be sent home. Particulars were given in the 
case of General Canalles, and Weyler was charged with 
saying of him that he "had no head" and couldn't be 
useful — more than that he was a devoted friend of Mar- 
tinez Campos, and therefore under suspicion of unfaith- 
fulness to the new administration. 

He had a high reputation as a fighting man. The 
Cubans were excited over the Canalles stories and, as 
the general was about to sail, I called upon him and 
had a frank and a pleasant talk through an interpreter. 
I found the redoubtable general a middle-aged man, 
very bald and thin, and troubled with some nervous 
affection — and he all over looked the old campaigner. 
He was just taking leave and, asked if he was going 

away for personal or public reasons, he said he " was 

c-32 



556 THEs STORY OF CUBA. 

called to Spain by ill health and personal misfortune,** 
and his shaky, physical condition was plain enough. It 
would certainly have been a personal hardship and dan- 
ger, even if practicable, for him to remain in the field ; 
and a death had occurred in his family that deranged 
his home affairs and demanded his presence. He had 
not been removed from his command on account of 
differences with the captain-general, but he had been 
identified with the policy and the fortunes of Martinez 
Campos. He was an Asturian, and that meant he had 
no politics, but his sword was ever ready in the service 
of his queen and country. When an Asturian got his 
orders he asked no questions ; and as he turned away 
to take the ship, that hour sailing for home, he gave 
me a cordial invitation, if I ever found myself in Spain, 
to call upon him at his home in Cordova. 

This incident seems worth relating here, to show that 
at times the information in circulation about the rela- 
tion of the captain-general and his subordinates may be 
in part erroneous. There is no doubt about it, however, 
that General Weyler's plans of campaign, and especially 
his attempted quick, bold strokes, have been embarrassed 
and thwarted by the habit of the ofiEicers of not getting 
their columns into motion on time and pressing to the 
mark with the alertness and perseverance that the pro- 
fession of soldiers demands. We have two stories of 
personal difficulties — one that did not reach the point 
of assault with General Pando, who has been spoken of 
as the probable successor of Weyler when again the 
head of a commander-in-chief on the Island is de- 
manded in Spain by those politicians who make a busi- 
ness of fault-finding, and do not feel happy until they 
are furious. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 557 

A Herald correspondent telegraphs from Havana, 
via Key West, which means that the letter was sent by 
private conveyance to a wire that is not subjected to 
Spanish censorship. 

" Generals Pando and Bernal will leave for Spain on 
the next steamer. General Bernal is very angry at the 
report made by General Weyler about General Suarez 
Inclan's recent fight with Maceo's troops in Pinar del 
Rio province. He says it was impossible for him to 
join Inclan's forces in the time specified, and he objects 
to being made a scapegoat. 

"Bernal had angry words with Weyler, and declared 
his intention to go to Spain at once. General Weyler 
tried to dissuade him. Report says that Bernal told 
his superior if he were not the captain-general he would 
have to fight a duel. It is said Bernal intends to force 
Weyler to fight when the captain-general returns to 
Spain. Bernal is a leader of the republicans in Barce- 
lona, and the government prefers to have him in the 
field than at home." 

They(9?^r?/<2/ has this from Frederick M. Lawrence — 
his last despatch from the seat of war — as he was com- 
pelled to leave the Island, as two more correspondents, 
Mr. Creelman, of the World, and Mr. Lawrence, have 
been expelled from Havana for " calumniating the 
Spaniards," the inevitable off"ense of violating Weyler's 
newspaper articles placing handcuffs on the press: 

" General Bernal felt that Weyler had removed him 
from the command of the column in Pinar del Rio 
through feelings of personal enmity, and had used the 
alleged failure of Bernal to take his column to the as- 
sistance of General Inclan at the battle of Cacarajicara 
as a pretext for paying up an old score. 



558 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

" The enmity between the men goes back to the days 
when both were fighing for preference in Spain. Ber- 
nal was instrumental in keeping Weyler from attaining 
higher honors than he has reached, and Weyler has 
never forgiven him. 

" It is supposed that General Inclan was jealous of 
Bernal's superior military ability, and knowing Weyler's 
hatred, concocted the plan whereby it was to appear 
that Bernal was remiss in his duty at Cacarajicara with 
the intention of giving Weyler an opportunity to re- 
move Bernal from his command. 

" Inclan's plan worked well. He reported Bernal's 
failure to Weyler, and the captain-general lost no time 
in humiliating Vernal. 

"Weyler sent a heliograph order to Bernal to report 
immediately in Havana. Bernal evidently guessed 
what was in store for him, for upon his arrival in Ha- 
vana he changed his military uniform for the dress of a 
private citizen. In this garb Bernal went to the palace. 
He was received with every outward show of courtesy 
by Weyler, and two orderlies, who were conversing with 
Weyler, were asked to step aside, and they retired to a 
corner of the room out of reach. 

" Weyler then asked Bernal why he appeared before 
his superior in civilian garb. Bernal's answer was : 

" ' I expect in a few minutes to have no use for my 
uniform, and desired to save myself the inconvenience 
of changing my dress later on.' 

" Weyler then requested Bernal to give his version of 
the failure of the battle of Cacarajicara. What Bernal 
told is not known. 

" What is known is that General Bernal, at the end 
of a few minutes, arose from his chair and said : 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 559 

" * I understand then that I am to return to Spain and 
am no longer your suborduiate officer.' 

" At the same time General Weyler arose and replied : 
' That is my order.' 

" Bernal took one step backward, folded his arms and 
looked Weyler square in the eyes. - 

" ' If that is the case we meet on level ground, and I 
desire to inform you that in your conduct of the war 
you have shown yourself to be nothing less than a 
traitor to your country. If Cuba is lost to Spain, it will 
be because of your misconduct, and whether it was 
through ignorance or design, it was none the less trea- 
son. Permit me also to say that my personal estima- 
tion of you is that you are a liar and a poltroon.' 

"Weyler was white with rage. His orderlies, who 
heard what Bernal had said, when, through anger, he 
raised his voice, started up from their seats and hurried 
across the room. 

" They saw Weyler draw his arm back as though to 
strike Bernal, but the general was too quick for him. 

" Bernal raised his hand, and disdaining to strike with 
his clinched fist, he delivered a stinorinof smack with the 
palm of his right hand upon Weyler's left cheek. 

"The captain-general staggered back, but recovered 
himself instantly and sprang at Bernal. He seized the 
younger general by the throat, and so savage was the 
attack that Bernal was forced half way across the room. 
By this time the orderlies had seized Bernal, and with a- 
jerk they tore him from Weyler's grasp. 

" The captain-general recovered his senses instantly 
and waved his arm to Bernal. He told the orderlies to 
take him away. The orderlies started from the room, 
and Weyler walked back to his desk. 



560 THE STORY OP CUBA. 

" Before Bernal and his custodians had reached the 
door, Weyler commanded them to stop. He then or- 
dered the two officers to retire again out of earshot, and, 
walking up to Bernal, Weyler stood in front of him 
with arms folded, his whole body trembling with emo- 
tion, and for fully a minute the two men glared into 
each other's eyes. 

"General Weyler said something in a low tone to 
Bernal, who was heard to reply : 

" ' In Spain, sir, I shall be very happy to grant the 
favor you ask. ' 

"General Weyler returned to his desk, beside which 
he stood for a moment, looking at Bernal, and then he 
made a profound bow. In return Bernal bowed very 
low. 

" * Is this interview at an end ? Have I your permis- 
sion to retire ?' asked Bernal. 

" 'You may retire, sir,' said General Weyler. ' I have 
nothing more to say.' 

" Again the two men bowed very low, and Bernal 
left the room. He went straightway from the palace, 
and Weyler has not seen him since." 

There is a certain verisimilitude about this that, sup- 
ported by consistency at all points wath the known 
facts, is convincing that there is substantial accuracy 
in the statement. The personal quarrel develops public 
facts. It displays that the inside Spanish view of the 
battle of Cacarajicara was a defeat of the Spanish 
troops, and not the victory of the official proclamations. 
It was a defeat of the Spanish at their sore point, it 
being the first serious effort made by the captain- 
general to use his celebrated trocha as a guard for of- 
fensive operations. The Spanish, with the sea at 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 563 

their disposition and a line drawn across the Island, 
have Maceo surrounded in theory, and the test of pos- 
session was made in hurrying converging columns to 
capture the insurgents' stronghold in the mountains. 

If Maceo would not attack the trocha, whythetrocha 
must attack him, and the result was the combat from 
which the Spaniards retired sorely harrassed with heavy 
losses, and meriting, as their commander said in his 
official report, "one of the best pages in Spanish his- 
tory." There were two circumstances especially obnox- 
ious to the captain-general. One was, Maceo himself 
was not in the fight, but six miles away, and rebel suc- 
cess was won by a subordinate. There was a sting in 
this that struck deep and rankled. The other provok- 
ing point was, that the Spanish column that was ordered 
to support the one that suffered heavily, was not on 
time, and certainly there could be nothing better calcu- 
lated to provoke the fierce resentment of the com- 
mander-in-chief, and indeed to justify it entirely. 
Whether he picked up the right man for a victim, or 
selected one according to his personal proclivities, we 
have not testimony for decision. There is other evi- 
dence that the Spaniards were hurt in their venture into 
the mountains occupied by Maceo. 

They have not — if they had the successes they claim 
— followed them up, but have lingered about their 
block houses and along the ditches. The Cacarajicara 
affair seems to have revealed a fatal flaw in the Spanish 
system, to have exposed its deficiency, and it may be 
even as grave as a condition of demoralization that 
results in tardiness and insubordination. That Wey- 
ler has many enemies in the Spanish army there is 
no question. Mutterings were heard early in March 



564 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

when he cleared the high officers from their comforts in 
the hotels of Havana and forced them to the field. 
Some of them may find no more handy method of doing 
the business of malice than personally seeing to it that 
the military combinations shall, at their most critical 
stage, fail of success — and there is no way so easy to 
manage this as by the contrivance of delays. 

It is reported from Havana that Gen. Weyler has 
made efforts to induce five thousand of the Havana 
volunteers to hold a section of the trocha and allow a 
like number of regulars to be freed for field service. 
There has been no more delicate and dangerous opera- 
tion undertaken than this. The volunteers are inde- 
pendent in an important sense. They keep their guns 
day and night in their hands, and they are not subjected 
to the direct orders of the captain-general, except with 
well understood and carefully guarded limitations. 
Perhaps the volunteers may flinch from going to the 
field, even to the extent of managing the trenches. They 
may very much prefer their twice-a-day parade in Ha- 
vana with music and clean dry clothes, to muddy 
ditches and the chance of hearing the wild tramping 
of horses and the war-cry " machete, machete ; " and 
they may ask such an incisive question as this. " Why 
not place us as guards of the forts of Havana ? " — espe- 
cially those on the hills that were constructed to com- 
mand the town rather than to defend it. 

The captain-general should refuse. Why ? Because 
in the present juncture he would not dare to place the 
keys of the capital city in any hands but those of the 
chosen regulars of Spain. Such a slip would promote 
the issue that must be met some day, but that it is 
Spanish policy to defer. The attempt to use the vol- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 565 

unteers on the trocha may, however, precipitate the 
time for balancing the books. When it becomes per- 
fectly known in Cuba, Havana in particular, that the 
cause of Spain is hopeless — and that the continuance 
of the war means the total bankruptcy of the business 
men — the obliteration of the money-making along with 
the end of sugar making and the devastation of the to- 
bacco fields, there will be a true crisis. And whether 
the Spaniards fight or wait, dig or march, they do not 
succeed in accomplishing results that change the disas- 
trous conditions of the Island. 

What is the reason the Spaniards do nothing decisive 
with their two hundred thousand men ? The general 
explanation is that the answer must be perplexing and 
uncertain. On the contrary, it is plain and easy and 
conclusive. The Cuban patriots on the Island have a 
majority over those who favor the Spanish cause of 
over a million. The Spaniards are not children or cow- 
ardly or imbecile. Numerous and strong, and drilled as 
they are, they are confronted by an awful array- — a 
million people fighting in blood and ashes to the death, 
with knife and torch ! 

General Weyler said to the Herald correspondent 
that he expelled Creelman because the story of a mas- 
sacre he sent was " false, absolutely false," and he 
added : " I refused to permit it to be transmitted from 
here. I suppose it got to the United States by way of 
Key West or Tampa." 

The general was asked : " May there not be instances 
of cruelty ; instances of shooting innocent persons in a 
force as large as that which you command ? " 

The general replied : " Such things may occur, as for 
example, the other day, when a rebel shot at some 



i,66 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Spanish troops, who were passing, crying at the same 
time, ' Vive Cuba Libre,' the troops fired at a house 
whence the shots came, and in which non-combatants 
were at the time. My troops supposed, naturally, that 
all those within were rebels, and fired, Under such 
circumstances innocent persons may be hurt." 

The general said as to threats that he was to be 
assassinated and his habit of going about unattended : 
"I go out regularly at night unattended. I now receive 
practically no personal threats. When I first assumed 
office I received threats from the United States. One 
letter said that a woman would come here and kill me. 
Since then I have received every woman who called." 

"Young ladies ?" 

" Yes, when they have come I have seen all." 

And the general told the Herald he was going to be 
on the offensive all summer. A sugar broker in Havana, 
commenting on General Weyler's latest declaration that 
the rebellion will be put down in two years, says Cuba 
will be "a mere cinder path" before that time, and he 
added : 

" It has been said that the work of the torch must 
end somewhere, but fires continue to crackle merrily 
all over the Island, and the end is not yet. An inevit- 
able result of this form of campaign has been the levy- 
ing of blackmail by minor chiefs. A wealthy man 
informed me yesterday that he had been notified by 
the insurgents in charge of the district where his prop- 
erty is located that it would be spared for the consid- 
eration of $6,000. As the buildings cost more than 
$250,000, the owner would gladly pay the $6,000 if he 
knew that he would receive protection. He fears, how- 
ever, that if he pays, the rebel officer will be transferred 



HER STRUGGLES EOR LIBERTY. 567 

to some other section of the Island and his successor 
will immediately apply the torch. Something of that 
kind recently happened in Matanzas province, where a 
building was burned after $500 had been paid to pro- 
tect it. 

Another result of the war may be the practical ex- 
termination of the Cuban breed of horses that are not 
unlike Texas mustangs in appearance, small, wiry and 
very strong. Horses have always thrived here, and 
there was an enormous number of them on the Island 
when the war began. Since then the slaughter has 
been going on, Spaniards and insurgents alike killing 
all those found in the country that they could not use 
themselves, to prevent them from falling into the hands 
of the enemy. 

It is this destructiveness going on with accelerating 
vindictiveness that is joined to the ferocity with which 
the people, trying to save themselves by neutrality, are 
assailed that mark for the worse the progress of the 
war. A letter from Cuba Libre, dated in camp Aline, 
April i6th, from Mariano Torres, in which he made this 
reference to General Gomez : " I am now at the head of 
the Cuban forces in this rich and important part of Las 
Vilas, and I had the pleasure a few days ago of receiv- 
ing a visit from the commander-in-chief." M. Torres 
writes, the Spaniards "have decided to ruin and devas- 
tate the country, and kill all the peaceful, harmless, 
and defenseless people they find in the way," and the 
letter proceeds with the account of half a dozen mas- 
sacres. 

A Santiago de Cuba despatch gives his accounts of 
the capture of Spanish trains — the most important affair 
being at Manzanillo, April 21st. The Spanish column 



568 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

was " taking a large convoy to Venecia. A bloody 
engagement began, and lasted an hour and a half. As 
the insurgents occupied excellent positions, they suc- 
ceeded in disorganizing the column completely, and 
nearly the whole convoy fell into their possession. 
They took twenty wagons drawn by oxen, ten carts 
drawn by mules, and eighteen mules. 'The articles cap- 
tured were Mausers, cartridges, clothes, medicines, and 
provisions. 

"In the combat the rebels had a captain and twenty- 
eight soldiers killed and fifty-seven wounded. The 
Spaniards had seventy killed and 107 wounded, among 
the latter Captain Castelvi, of the Veguita Guerillas." 

Now this is the most definite and certain account of 
a fight we have had for a long time. 

The Spaniards with their slow ships are avoided at 
sea as their slow columns are evaded on land. The 
Bermuda is faster than the Spanish cruisers, and if she 
has succeeded, as often reported, in throwing into the 
insurgents' hands machine guns, with abundant ammu- 
nition and expert American gunners, the rebels will be- 
come aggressive. 

The Spanish official reports unconsciously pay the 
tribute to the rebels that they did not permit to the 
Havana newspapers, or to pass over the direct line of 
wire — this account of the Bermuda in her latest expedi- 
tion, which, however, receives full confirmation : 

"The Bermuda landed two Gatling guns, 1,000 rifles, 
most of them Mausers, 500,000 rounds of ammunition, 
and 1,000 pounds of dynamite. It is Vidal's intention 
to report at General Maceo's headquarters immediately. 
The ammunition is for Maceo's army, and, at his 
request, the cartridges are designed for the Mauser rifles, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 569 

with which the insurgents in Pinar del Rio are now very 
well supphed. On account of their superior penetrat- 
ing power, it is Maceo's intention to use them against 
the numberless small forts which General Weyler has 
established along his military trocha between Mariel 
and Majana. 

There is threatened a case closely resembling that of 
the Lopez and Virginius captures and executions of 
citizens, and arising from the same line of indiscretion 
or policy on the part of the Autonomists of Spain. The 
Cuban insurgents and their unqualified sympathizers 
above all things hope for affairs that will cause hostile 
relations between the United States and Spain. If a 
little American blood could be shed so as to have the 
desired effect, it would be regarded far more impor- 
tant than a bloody engagement going against the Span- 
iards. That there are expeditions on the sea and in 
course of preparation to bear recruits and munitions of 
war to the Cubans, is not denied. It is a matter of ad- 
vertising ; it is proclaimed by the press through the 
Associated Press and the United Press agencies, and is 
exploited by special correspondents. When a ship gets 
through, the warlike character of the crew and cargo is 
celebrated ; and when one is captured, the innocence of 
all parties is proverbial. 

It is the better way to tell the facts from the begin- 
ning, and it becomes a great nation to be candid and 
thoroughly truthful. The ill-fated Lopez expedition 
sailed from New Orleans as if enjoying a triumph, and 
was met on the coast of Florida with decoy letters, by 
which the unfortunate men were lured to their doom. 
The Spaniards had received from the United States full 
information. The filibusters left little for the spies 



570 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

to report. The claim of the officers of the Virginius was 
that she was an innocent American ship, and was 
taken in neutral waters with regular papers, and the 
people on her were warned ; and yet the pleas were 
rather technical than actual, for the ship was loaded 
with fire-arms that were thrown away in the chase. 
Then the men were slaughtered as we have related, 
American citizens along with the rest, but the law and 
the facts made a complication such that President 
Grant, Secretary Fish and Minister Sickles extricated 
the country by a vigorous course of action that ap- 
proached war, and accepted concessions so as to se- 
cure peace. 

The crew of the American schooner. Competitor, have 
been tried by court-martial at Havana and condemned 
to death. There is a clear case of an American citizen 
among the condemned ; not one of those referred to 
by the Spaniards, in the most merciless spirit as "Cubans, 
self-made American citizens, for the sole purpose of 
sedition in Cuba," hoping, if caught, to be protected by 
the United States or to stir up war between the two 
nations. There are so many American citizens provided 
with naturalization papers in Florida, as a part of equip- 
ment for aiding war against the Spaniards, that there 
is a perceptible interference with the defense of citi- 
zens who are undoubtedly Americans without sinister 
purpose. 

It has been a complaint against Consul - General 
Williams that he has invented the classification of 
American citizens into actual and professional Ameri- 
cans. He may not have done this, but he has had a 
large and instructive experience with American citizens 
whose titles they could not always read clear, and one 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 571 

of the curiosities of taking an obligation in Havana, 
" On my word of honor as a native American, I tell 
you " — and there were those who considered this rather 
more binding than an average oath. (It should be un- 
derstood that this is not given as an example of humor, 
but as a statement of fact ; and upon this my word of 
honor as a native American is given.) 

The following information has been telegraphed from 
Jacksonville, Florida, to the secretary of state of the 
United States: 

Owen Milton, who was captured by the Spanish authorities on board 
of the Competitor and condemned to death, left Key West as a newspa- 
per correspondent, hoping to consummate plans for furnishing reliable 
news to the correspondents of the Florida Ti7nes- Union at Key West, 
who in turn were to transmit such reports by cable to the Southern As- 
, sociated Press and United Press through the medium of this paper. He 
must have had with him, at the time of his capture, credentials showing 
his connection with the Times- IJjiion as its duly authorized representa- 
tive. Such a letter was furnished him by me. 

I send you this information to assist you in your efforts in behalf of 
young Milton. 

T. T. Stockton, 
General Manager Florida Times-Union. 

It is not certain that credentials as a newspaper man 
will aid Mr. Milton in producing a good impression on 
the captain -general, whom I found in a bad humor 
with correspondents. When asked why correspond- 
ents should not go through the lines and report the facts 
about the rebels, if they were as badly off as he 
thought, as it would be worth something to his cause to 
have his opinion confirmed, he said, "all these Cubans 
are editors or correspondents, and if I granted the per- 
mission suggested to newspaper men, I would have the 
Cuban cavalry riding through our positions on the 



572. THE STORY OF CUBA. 

press passes." Indeed, he insisted that correspond- 
ents were much worse than editors — that the editors 
were deceived by false information given by letter 
writers. 

The law that is supposed to protect American citizens 
from trial by martial law is this in our treaty with Spain : 

No citizen of the United States, residing in Spain, her adjacent islands, 
or her ultramarine possessions, charged with acts of sedition, treason, or 
conspiracy against the institutions, the public security, the integrity of 
the territory, or against the supreme government, or any other crime 
whatsoever, shall be subject to trial by any exceptionable tribunal, but 
exclusively by the ordinary jurisdiction, except in the case of being 
captured with arms in hand. 

The secretary of state of the general government of 
Cuba, the Marquis Palmerola, said the statement of the 
Competitor s men proved they had arms in their hands, 
but Milton's case was " different from the others." 

This acknowledgment of difference we may trust will 
be very important. Milton is the only one of the cap- 
tured crew who is an American citizen. It was be- 
lieved Captain - General Weyler determined to have 
the condemned men shot, because he held it was impor- 
tant to prevent the filibusters from returning upon ex- 
peditions under the impression they are picnics, and it 
happens that the very New York papers that give the 
news of the sentence of death upon the Competitor s 
crew, have accounts of two other expeditions — one 
starting from New York — this the Latirada. The Junta 
disowns the Competitor s expedition. The sailing of the 
Competitor was from Key West, on the night of April 
2oth. The Herald's Key West correspondent says : 

" General Weyler has been anxious from the outset 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 573 

to make an example of the filibusters, in order to deter 
other similar expeditions from trying" to land on the 
Cuban coast. Captain Ladorde and his companions 
are the first filibusters caucrht in this war. 

" It is believed that Weyler objects to following the 
advice received from Spain, not to execute the foreign 
citizens captured on the Competitor, even if found 
guilty. 

" The cases have already been the subject of lots of 
diplomatic correspondence. Captain Laborde asserts 
that he has been treated cruelly by the Spaniards. He 
showed me his wrists when I called on him in his 
cell in the arsenal. They were encircled by festering 
sores. 

" He says that after his arrest a stout string "was tied 
to his wrists, and an iron bar placed in the middle and 
twisted until the string cut into the flesh around the 
wrists, in an effort to make him confess. He declares 
that when he announced that he was an American, the 
Spaniards threatened to shoot his companions and him- 
self immediately. They had previously shot at the 
mate when the latter attempted to raise the Stars and 
Stripes. The mate's arms are badly lacerated by ropes 
which were tied around the biceps." 

The question over the disposition of the Competitor's 
men is the most serious that has occurred between the 
governments of the United States and Spain during the 
Cuban war. The insurgents have the intensest solici- 
tude that something very serious may happen, and we 
are told the secretary of state is in a condition of threat- 
ening excitement on the subject, and that the president 
is angry and very determined. There is too much ac- 
tual gravity in the situation to permit us to believe in 



574 "^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

melodramatic demonstrations by the highest officers of 
the government. 

The fact that Washington and Madrid are in commu- 
nication with Havana insures full if fast considera- 
tion. That which is done on either side will be upon 
perfected intelligence, with a full sense of responsibil- 
ity. At the moment the secretary of state of the Uni- 
ted States, and the prime minister of Spain, and the 
captain-general of Cuba have this matter in hand, and 
are in communication by cable, we are entertained by 
the news that the JBenmida has been heard from again 
at Honduras, and the Laui^ada is off from New York, 
and there is no sort of question as to the character of 
these vessels. At the same time it is proposed, with 
Jingo vig"or, that the American fleet is concentrating in 
New York to make a demonstration atMoro Castle and 
the Spanish palace ; but the yellow fever and the pes- 
tilential harbor forbid the appearance of our fleet there 
on any lesser errand than the bombardment of Havana. 

There are so many points of resemblance between the 
Competitor case and that of the Virginius that the pub- 
lic will be pleased by the refreshment of recollection 
in the production of despatches that passed in 1873 be- 
tween Secretary of State Fish and Minister Sickles. 
These communications are highly instructive as to the 
attitude of our country regarding the rights of persons 
who sail under the national flag, and show they will 
find it well to have the right to the use of the flag, and 
be able to prove it. 

There is a great deal said in the United States of the 
attitude of this country toward Cuba at this most inter- 
esting juncture, and we present the most pertinent of 
the official papers : 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. , 5/5 

United States Legation in Spain, 

Madrid, Nov. 14, 1873. (Rec'd Dec. 11.) 
Sir: I have the honor to forward herewith a copy of a note this day 
passed to the minister of state, in which, in obedience to your instruc- 
tion of the 12th inst. by cable, I have protested against the summary 
execution of the captain and thirty- six of the crew of the Virginius and 
sixteen others, by order of the Spanish authorities at Santiago de Cuba. 
You were advised in my telegram of last evening that Mr. Carvajal, in 
your interview of yesterday, confirmed the report published in the 
Havana papers. I am, etc., Sickles. 

Madrid, Nov. 15, 1873. 
Received an ill-tempered note to-day from minister of state, rejecting- 
protest, and saying Spain would, nevertheless, consider and decide 
questions according to law and her dignity. Sickles. 

Madrid, Nov. 18, 1873. 
Minister of state informs me, in note of this date, that the reports 
mentioned in your cable of 15th are not confirmed, and that, on the con- 
trary, as soon as the captain-general could submit to Santiago the orders 
sent by this government on the 6th, the executions were suspended. 

Sickles. 

Madrid, Nov. 19, 1873. 
Popular feeling runs high here against United States and this lega- 
tion. Press violent and abusive, advising government to order me out 
of Spain. Last night a mob was collected to attack and sack the lega- 
tion. The authorities interfered and preserved the peace. 

Sickles. 

Washington, Nov. 20, 1873. 
Instructions sent yesterday by cable authorize you to defer closing 
legation in order to allow a reasonable time to Spanish government ) 
ascertain facts in response to their request through minister here, pre- 
sented on the 1 8th inst. No other postponement has been agreed to, 
and minister was informed that a satisfactory settlement would be 
expected by the 26th. Fish. 



576 - THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Madrid, Nov. 20, 1873. 
Have received rejoinder of minister to my reply to his note in answer 
to our protest. Neither this nor either of the three communications in 
writing so far received, contains any expression of regret or disapproval 
of the capture or the slaughter at Santiago. The press approves the 
whole business, and denies that any censure or regret has been expressed 
by this government. The ministerial journals acquiesce. Sickles. 

Madrid, Nov. 21, 1873. 
Constant efforts are made by this cabinet to conciliate England. 
Castelar is every day at British legation. The press has received an 
official hint to contrast the moderation of England with our impatience. 
I suspect overtures have also been made to Germany for her good 
offices. Sickles. 

Washington, Nov. 23, 1873. 
Have telegraphed to Rome for authority to Italian minister to take 
custody of library and property. Spanish government, through minister 
here, proposed arbitration, which has been declined, on the ground that 
the question is not one for arbitration, the subject being one of national 
honor, of which the nation must be the judge and custodian. Fish. 

Department of State, 

'Washington, Nov. 25, 1873. 
If upon the close of to-morrow no accommodation shall have been 
reached in the case of the Virginius, you will address to the foreign 
office a note expressing regret at the delay of the reparation asked for, and 
stating that, in conformity with instructions from your government, you 
were under the necessity of withdrawing from Madrid, for which pur- 
pose you request the usual passport for yourself, your family and suite. 
If, however, the accommodation desired should be brought about in the 
course of to-morrow, either here or in Madrid, you will, until otherwise 
directed, abstain from addressing the note adverted to. Should a 
proposition be submitted to you to-morrow, you will refer it here, and 
defer action until it be decided upon. A telegram has just now been read 
to me by Admiral Polo, which gives reason to hope for a satisfactory 
accommodation. You will, therefore, allow the whole of to-morrow to 
pass before addressing your note. Fish. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. i^yy 

Madrid, Nov, 25, 1873. 
Layard says Granville has expressed his sense of the justice and 
moderation of the reparation we have demanded, and this has been com- 
municated to Castelar. England reserves her reclamation for the 
present, and endeavors to promote a settlement of the question pending 
between the United States and Spain. Sickles. 

Madrid, Nov. 26, 1873. 

At half-past two this afternoon, half an hour after I had asked for my 
passports, I received a note, dated to-day, from minister of state, in 
which he says : 

First. If it appear, on or before the 25th of December next, that the 
Virginius rightfully carried the American flag, and that her documents 
were regular, Spain will declare the seizure illegal, salute the flag as 
requested, and return the ship with the surviving passengers and crew. 

Second. If it be proved that the authorities of Santiago de Cuba, in 
their proceedings and sentences pronounced against foreigners^ have 
essentially infringed Spanish legislation or treaties, this government will 
arraign those authorities before competent tribunals. 

Third. Any other reclamations growing out of the affair, which either 
of the respective governments may have to present, will be considered 
diplomatically, and, if no agreement be reached, they will be submitted 
to the arbitration of a third power, named by mutual consent. 

Fourth. If the 25th day of December shall have expired without the 
Spanish government having resolved, in so far as comes within its 
province, the questions arising out of the demand for reparation, it will 
hold itself bound to accord such reparation the same as if the right of 
the United States to receive it were recognized, and such reparation will 
be given in the form specified in the first and second paragraphs. 

Sickles. 

Madrid, Nov. 28, 1S73. 
Last night it was agreed here informally that, accepting my declaration 
of the nationality of the Virgi?nus, reparation would be made in accord- 
ance with our demand of the 15th inst. This was ratified by the council 
of ministers at 3 this morning, and I was promised an official communi- 
cation in that sense to-day. I am now informed in a note from minister 
of state that yesterday you authorized the Spanish minister in Washing- 
ton to convey to this government a different proposition on the part of 
the United States, and that it has been accepted, of which you have been 



578 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

notified through Admiral Polo. Please let me knowwhether this state- 
ment is true. The only instruction I have had from you since my four 
telegrams of the 26th, is a copy of the Senate resolutions passed in fifty- 
six. Sickles. 

Washington, Nov. 29, 1873. 
Remain at post. Further instructions soon. Settlement being effected 
here. , Fish. 

Madrid, Dec. 15, 1875, 4:30 p.m. 
(Received 3:20 p.m.) 
President Castlear called at the legation this afternoon and informed 
me that the Virginius and survivors had been surrendered to those au- 
thorized to receive them on the part of the United States. Sickles. 

Madrid, Dec. 20, 1873, 12:30 a.m. 
(Received Dec. 20, 10:20 a.m.) 
It is stated here by authority that in consequence of a communica- 
tion this government has received from that of the United States,- in 
which it appears the Virginius is not an American ship, a reclamation 
will be made by Spain for the restoration of the vessel and passengers. 

Sickles. 

Washington, Dec, 20, 1873. 
(Sent 11:20 a.m.) 
Official advices received of surrender of survivors from Virginius. 

Fish. 

Madrid, Dec. 26, 1873, 
(Received Dec. 26, p.m.) 
My resignation having been accepted, I now respectfully renew my 
request for the publication of the correspondence relating thereto, com- 
prising my telegrams of the 6th, i6th and 20th inst., and your replies of 
the 6th, 17th and 20th. I beg that this request may be submitted to the 
President. Sickles. 

Department of State, 

Washington, Dec. 31, 1873. 
Sir : On the 26th ult.. General Sickles' No. 893, arrived at this de- 
partment during my absence for the holidays. In it he states that it 
was informally agreed, on the night of the 27th of November last, that 
on a declaration made by him of the American nationality of the Vir- 
ginius^ the vessel and surviving passengers and crew would be delivered 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 579 

up, the flag saluted, and the other measures of reparation accorded in 
conformity with our demands of the 15th inst. It is greatly to be re- 
gretted that General Sickles did not state with whom this informal 
agreement was made. 

The note of Mr. Carvajal, minister of foreign affairs, which accompanies 
General Sickles' despatch, does not convey the idea that he had been a 
party to that agreement, but does intimate that he would have discussed 
some of the points raised in General Sickles' note but for the arrange- 
ment which was made here. 

General Sickles further says, that at noon on the 28th of November, 
Mr. Carvajal sent him a copy of a telegram from Admiral Polo, contain- 
ing what purported to be a fresh proposal from me respecting the Vir- 
ginius, which General Sickles appears to have supposed was in conflict 
with the informal arrangement of the previous evening. 

Without more accurate information concerning the person with whom 
the informal arrangement was made, I cannot permit myself to think 
that the Spanish government receded from any undertaking which it had 
once assumed. 

So far, however, as General Sickles' statement may be supposed to 
affect this government, it is proper to say that the changes from the 
original demands of the United States, which were agreed to in the 
protocol of the 29th of November, were adopted on the suggestion of the 
Spanish government, under the belief that they did not affect the prin- 
ciples upon which our demands were founded, and were calculated to 
promote a peaceful settlement of the unfortunate differences which had 
arisen between the two powers. 

Spain having admitted (as could not be seriously questioned) that a 
regularly documented vessel of the United States is subject, on the 
high seas, in time of peace, only to the police jurisdiction of the power 
from which it receives its papers, it seemed to the president that the 
United States should not refuse to concede to her the right to adduce 
proof to show that the Virginius was not rightfully carrying our flag. 
When the. question of national honor was adjusted, it also t"- .^ that 
there was a peculiar propriety in our consenting to an arbitration on a 
question of pecuniary damages. 

This happy adjustment of the difference between two sister republics, 
on a basis honorable to both, fortunately makes the matters referred to 
by General Sickles of little importance. I have thought it right, how- 
ever, to correct the misapprehensions under which his despatch seems X.Q 
have been written. I am, sir, etc. Hamilton Fish. 



•^'■^ 



\ 

3^ _ 580 . THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Spain did not long remain a "sister republic," and it 
made no difference to Cuba whether she was or not. 
Cuba never had any rights Spaniards were bound to 
respect. 

"^President Grant had so far made up his mind that 
war might occur, growing out of the attitude of Spain, 
tl.a^ he directed observations and studies to be made of 
the 'fortifications of Havana, and ordered officers to 
obtain certain information looking to operations by 
land and sea. But he did not love war, and accepted 
peace with alacrity. 

Nov. 12, 1877, the house of representatives called for 
a report from the secretary of state on the Virginius 
indemnity, and received the following : 

Department of State, 
Washington, Nov. 14, 1877. 

The secretary of state, to whom was referred the resolution of the 
house of representatives of the 12th inst., requesting him to '* inform the 
house, if not compatible with the public interests, what amount of in- 
demnity has been paid to this government by the government of Spain 
on account of the execution or General Ryan and others, at Santiago de 
Cuba, Nov. 4, 1873, ^^^"^ what disposition has been made of such funds 
as may have been received," has the honor to report to the president that 
the amount of indemnity paid by the government of Spain on that ac- 
count was 80,000 Spanish dollars, yielding, less exchange, the sum of 
$77,794.44 in coin ; that claims thereon have been settled and paid to 
the amount of $38,102 ; that a claim for $2,500 has been settled, but is 
not yet paid ; and that the unexpended balance of the Virginius indem- 
nity is invested in 5 per cent, registered bonds of the United States. 
The secretary of state has also to state that, as the heirs of General Ryan 
failed to prove that he was a citizen of the United States, nothing has 
been paid to them from said indemnity funds. 
Respectfully submitted. 

Wm. M. Evarts. 

To the Presiderit. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 58 1 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

OUTLINE HISTORY OF CUBA FROM MAY, 1896, TO JANUARY, 

1897. 

A Memorable Year — A Long Period of Spanish Stagnation — The Rainy 
Season Recess — Maceo Disturbs Peace in Pinar del Rio — Weyler's 
Policy — Bird's-eye View of Cuban Provinces — Resemblance to 
New England — The Famous Trocha — Conflict of Testimony — Com- 
mon Carelessness as to Truth— The Death of Maceo, and Variety of 
Fiction Founded on It — Dr. Zertucha a Sinister "Character — Two 
American Correspondents with the Spaniards Give Interesting In- 
formation — The Story of a Fight at Sea — Fantastic Falsehoods — 
Castelar's Political Poetry — No Spanish Reform — Cleveland and 
Congress — Importance of Diplomatic Form and Dignity. 

The year 1896 will be forever memorable in the his- 
tory of Cuba. In the first month of it the fact that 
there was a greater war in the Island than ever 
before — a war with torch and knife, and a fierce resolu- 
tion on both sides to fight it out to the bitter end — be- 
came known to the world ; but there were many partic- 
ulars wanting to enable the public opinion of nations 
to be certainly grounded as to the merit of either the 
political and economic diff"erences or the military situa- 
tion, every point of fact being ferociously disputed. 
There was, however, enough obvious to inform all spec- 
tators that the insurgents had adopted a more destruc- 
tive method of warfare than had appeared in the ten 
years' contest, and that the armed forces of the rebel- 



582 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

lion were more numerous and their policy more adven- 
turous than on former occasions. The demonstration of 
this was in the march of Gomez with fire and sword from 
the Eastern through the Western Provinces, which had 
in all former experiences been exempt from invasion. 
It was when the burning cane-fields reddened the sky in 
the Provinces of Matanzas, Havana, and Pinar del Rio, 
and the ruddy glare was discerned from the streets of 
Havana and the decks of steamers on the Gulf, that the 
great military chieftain and pacificator of Spain, Mar- 
tinez Campos, who had hastened to the scene of former 
exploits to close up the insurrection at once, was re- 
called ; and this seemed, to thoughtful men, to declare 
beyond dispute the loss to Spain of the Island. The 
successor, after a short interval, of Campos (Weyler) 
has occupied about the same time with substantially 
the same results. Spain has made terrible sacrifices, 
and the insurrection continues. 

It was hardly possible to invent charges that were 
not made against Campos, but the most effective of 
the many accusations was, that he was too moderate 
and considerate and tender toward rebellious Cubans, 
and did not display the higher order of military strat- 
egy, enterprise and energy. Weyler was announced 
and denounced as a man of another stamp, uniting 
untiring vigor with unrelenting severities. He began 
cautiously, with the view of disproving the horrible 
stories circulated of him, and proceeded vigorously and 
hopefully, as has been recorded, assuming in confer- 
ences with business men that he would soon be able to 
pacificate the sugar regions, so that the most important 
of the industries of the Island could be resumed ; and 
it was avowed his purpose was to complete the con- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 583 

quest of the West End and confine the flagrancy of re- 
beUion to the east end, in which it originated.* 

It was in the month of February that the Weyler 
administration began, and now it is December — ten 
months passed — and we hear again that the Captain- 
General is about to suppress the insurrection in Pinar 
del Rio and Havana and Matanzas Provinces, in the 
order in which they are named, and then there is to be 
sugar-grinding, Spanish reform, and a rule of benefi- 
cence ; but the reports, so far as they are intelligible 
and within the limitations of reasonable authenticity, 
do not prepare us for the immediate appearance of the 
repeatedly promised results. The two great features of 
the Cuban war have been the raid of Gomez, taking 
the Island lengthwise last year, and the fight of Maceo 
this year in the Western Province. The Spanish nation 
has made great sacrifices, sparing neither men nor 
money. Indeed, the power and persistence displayed 
by Spain have been remarkable, and show a greater 
vitality than we were prepared to observe. The army 
now in Cuba, with the volunteers, still fifty thousand 
strong — the whole two hundred thousand men — 

* In order to get a bird's-eye view of Cuba we should remember it is about 
the size of the State of New York and eight hundred miles long, divided into six 
provinces, answering closely in comparative proportions to the New England States. 
Stretch New England out in tropical seas, with Maine East and Connecticut 
West, let East Massachusetts answer to the Province of Havana, and Boston to 
the great Cuban city, and the least luxuriant part of the Cuban country is Maine, 
New Hampshire and Vermont, corresponding to Santiago de Cuba, Puerto Prin- 
cipe and Santa Clara, where revolution has been organized and is most obstinate. 
Until this war the Spaniards have been able to prevent the disorganization of 
Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut, and this would locate the scene of 
Maceo's struggles for nine months in Connecticut, and the place of his death in 
Rhode Island — the trocha being a military line drawn to separate Connecticut 
(Pinar del Rio) from the rest of the Island. This "diagram " fails in many particu- 
lars to parallel the map ; but it is instructive, if not pursued too closely and far. 



584 ^HE STORY OF CUBA. 

would be formidable in the fields of Europe, but 
seems as a rule helpless in the deep mud roads and 
terrible jungles, and the swamp and mountain ambus- 
cades of Cuba, especially in the rainy season, which is 
two-thirds of the time. It is a foolish error to under- 
value the Spanish troops. They are not of a bad 
quality, are well armed, fairly drilled, clothed and 
fed, and the officers are devoted, many of them very 
intelligent, and it is a stupid falsehood to say they are 
cowards; yet they seem to be the victims of a mysteri- 
ous immobility. But the mystery is mitigated when 
we realize the absence of roads, and the fatal system 
that is expressed in the trocha — that of fortifying lines 
across the narrow Island, separating it into districts 
with military fences. Upon these the Spaniards have 
insisted, as though the art of war was building pens, 
and they have labored as if aggressive campaigning 
consisted in the construction of extended fortifications, 
and after all pains taken the Cuban chieftains hold in 
contempt, and cross the line when they.please, as Gomez 
did in his celebrated western march, and as Maceo did 
just before he found death in a skirmish. 

The construction of the trocha is thus described : 

The forest and dense Underbrush were cut down, leaving an opening, 
varying from one hundred to eight hundred yards wide. A platform of 
palm-boards eight feet wide was built through the swamp, following the 
eastern bank of the big ditch. 

Forts or block-houses were erected about every five or eight hundred 
yards. They are very elaborate affairs, built of logs cut in the neighbor- 
ing woods, and covered outside with dressed lumber. A narrow opening 
runs around the fort to permit firing, and a few feet above is an opening 
about three feet in height to allow a free circulation of air within. A 
galvanized zinc roof covers the yellow painted forts, and this is sur- 
mounted by a small sentry-box, which also serves as a ventilator. Piles 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 585 

were driven to give a solid foundation for the buildings. Each fort has 
a garrison of about one hundred men, commanded by a sub-lieutenant, 
whose duty it is to patrol the platform. The Spanish soldiers never leave 
the forts or bridge to explore the swamp, and any person seen near the 
line is considered an insurgent and fired on. 

The way the insurgents pass this Hne in the swamp 
is stated as follows by one who made the passage : 

Passing the trocha in the swamp is not so dangerous as it is disagree- 
able. The insurgents are generally from one to four days m crossing, 
and have to wade through mud, slime, and water up to their waists for 
more than twelve miles. A misstep causes them to sink up to the neck. 
Arriving near the platform, an opportunity is waited for, and then a 
quick dash is made while the sentinel is at the further end of the beat. 
About half a minute is consumed in swimming the ditch, and jumping 
over or diving under the bridge. Little fear of being hit by a bullet is 
entertained by the Cubans, as the Spaniards are famed for bad shooting. 
The jungle on the other side once reached there is no fear of pursuit, as 
the Spaniards will not hazard a chase through the swamp. 

Major Raul Marti, the first Cuban to cross the line with despatches 
from Gomez to Maceo, had a trying time. Twice he was attacked by 
the alligators that infest the southern part of the swamp, and could only 
defend himself with his machete, as the report of a rifle would have 
disclosed his presence to the enemy. The sentries were very vigilant, 
and he and his three companions were compelled to wade through the 
water, with only their heads out, until they arrived at the bridge. As 
the unsuspecting sentry passed they pounced on him and ran him through 
with a machete from behind, and the poor fellow dropped without a 
sound. The Cubans then noiselessly made their way across. 

Major Sainz, who crossed with one hundred and fifty men, left such a 
large trail behind, and made such a noise in crossing that the Spaniards 
were at last convinced that it was a comparatively easy matter to pass. 
A fort was immediately built at the point where Sainz crossed. The day 
that the fort was completed I, with nineteen companions, crossed under 
cover of dusk. We had been two days inside the swamp, without food, 
and slept with half our bodies under water. The crossing was made with 
a great amount of noise, and although we could hear the soldiers talking 
and singing inside the fort, we were not discovered. 



586 TH& STORY OF CUBA. 

We must take note that the country lends itself 
wonderfully to partisan warfare. The growth of trees, 
and shrubs and vines and bushes, and grasses — and all 
the rank vegetation that is caused by enormous quanti- 
ties of moisture and perpetual summer — with the paths 
deluged for months and the sun flaming forth, after the 
profuse rains — the endless impedimenta check the oper- 
ations of Spanish columns, and provide myriads of 
lurking-places, and every bit of woodland is an almost 
impregnable fortification. Roughly estimated there 
are three times as many insurgents, who have taken up 
arms now, and twice as many Spaniards in the field, as 
during the ten years' war. On both sides there is 
hotter passion and more desperate resolves than in other 
troubled times ; and there have been greater losses of 
life and more widespread devastation during the eigh- 
teen months since the present conflict began than for 
all the time from 1868 to 1878. 

It is a continuing misfortune that there is extreme 
difficulty in obtaining from Cuba the true news. We 
positively do not get it in official form from Havana. 
The official mind of Spain cares a great deal for form, 
but not much for the facts as facts. The bulletins of 
the Spanish officers in Cuba might as well be made out 
on blanks prepared at Madrid. Even the details of 
"battles" — the number of insurgents slain, and of 
Spaniards wounded and of horses captured and hats 
picked up — are familiar. It is the news that will not 
pass the censor, unless it is colored red and yellow. 
The Cuban headquarters — excepting the civil govern- 
ment and the camps — is at Key West. The Havana 
and Tampa steamers touch there, and each boat, what- 
ever secret dispatches may be carried, has a cargo of 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 587 

rumors — and this possession is not of information, but 
out of the imagination. There seems, also, to be a liter- 
ary bureau, whose business it is to work fancies into 
attractive despatches to telegraph over the worldj the 
primary purpose being not to tell what passes, but to 
contrive something to help the Cuban cause. No doubt 
the cause would be the better of more robust truth- 
telling. 

The death of Antonio Maceo was denied in a fury — 
just as was the early fall, in a skirmish, of Jose Marti, the 
man who oro^anized the rebellion and was one of the 
first martyrs. When the fall of Maceo could be no more 
disputed, there was a writer of fiction so hardy as to 
charge that the famous chieftain had been ''' lured " by 
the Spaniards to present himself, under a flag of truce, 
to treat for peace — a thing so out of character for 
him that it was incredible. He was a man whose policy 
was always war to the knife ; and we may be sure he 
did not depart from it at his death. There is, however, 
a mystery about that tragedy. Dr. Zertucha gives only 
a show of the truth — surely not all that is true — and then 
theorizes as to matters of which he has knowledge and 
evidently avoids. When Maceo was killed he had 
crossed the trocha, and was at the head of five hun- 
dred men in the Province of Havana, and within an 
hour's rapid ride of the city. Just as he said things 
were " going well, " he fell as if struck by lightning. 
Young Gomez had an old wound, and being again 
struck, refused to be helped from the fatal spot until 
the General was carried away. The Spaniards swept 
over the ground, but were swiftly driven back — and 
Maceo was found stripped and Gomez stabbed and his 
skull cleft. Now the doctor does not account for his 



5BS "t^HE STORY OF CVBA. 

own conduct in surrendering ; and he wanders; making 
fair weather for the Spaniards, paying for the distinc- 
tion with which he is treated by them. His tale that 
he swore he would serve with Maceo only is not credi- 
ble, and his declaration that Maceo was in despair and 
threw away his life, for the reason he had aroused jeal- 
ousies and was persecuted because he was of mixed 
blood, and not well supported, and therefore wanted 
to die — all this cannot be accepted. There is a Key 
West story that accuses Zertucha of systematically be- 
traying Maceo to the Spaniards, and sending them se- 
cret intelligence of the location of hospitals. A letter 
is attributed to one of Maceo's aides, saying he heard 
firing near Punta Brava, and Zertucha had ridden off to 
one side of the road and galloped back crying, " Come 
with me — come with me — quick, quick ! " and 

Maceo at once put spurs to his horse and, followed by his five aides, 
rode swiftly after the physician, who plunged into the thick growth oi\ 
the side of the road. 

The party had ridden only a few hundred yards, when Zertucha sud^ 
denly bent low in his saddle and swerved sharply to one side, galloping 
away like mad. 

Almost at the same moment a volley was fired by a party of Spanish 
soldiers hidden in the dense underbrush, and Maceo and four of hia 
aides dropped out of their saddles mortally wounded. 

The single survivor — the writer quoted here — managed to make his 
way back to his own men and brought them up to the spot of the trag- 
edy. The five dead bodies of Maceo and Gomez and the three othei 
aides still lay on the ground. The Spaniards had disappeared. 

This seems to have been produced to meet the de- 
mand. There is no reason to believe it save so far as 
it may be corroborated. At any rate it disposes of the 
flag of truce. It is clearly not impossible that Zertucha 
j's a traitor and betrayed Maceo. He was at the trouble 



•NOi 




■^ '. 
















'''■ft ^M 



■ "V^ 



V 









HER STRUGGLES FOR LlBERTV. 589 

to say that the Cuban insurgents in Pinar del Rio were 
reduced to desperation — and we have to conjecture 
whether there is a considerable measure of truth in this 
— and that Maceo was really disheartened and desper- 
ate, or simply impatient at the long delay of Gomez in 
marching west, and resolved to go and seek him, at the 
same time dispersing his command in bands of sixty, 
as is known to have been his purpose if assailed by 
overwhelming forces ; and it is to be thought of that 
Zertucha is in the hands of the Spaniards, and is not at 
liberty to speak, save in a way to please them. 

Dr. William Shaw Bowen, correspondent of the 
World, has the distinction of seeing that which passes 
before him in a way that is kindly toward the Spanish 
side ; and the reputation of this friendliness caused the 
Captain General the other day to issue a permit to Mr. 
Bowen to travel in the Province of Pinar del Rio, on 
the condition — an easy one — that he should not com- 
municate with any of the insurgents. As the doctor 
promised and proceeded and reported, he says the out- 
look was astounding. We quote him : 

As the train passed through the rich farming region there were few 
3igns of a rebellion. The fields were under cultivation. The men ap- 
peared to be pursuing their ordinary avocations. The women and chil- 
dren were on the road as usual. 

There were block-houses about the little villages, and a few soldiers 
were seen about them. Where were the terrible vestiges of war that 
have been reported ? Where was the reign of terror ? 

At Guira de Helena we passed the church which was held by volun- 
teers against Gen. Gomez's forces last January, the ruins of the houses 
he burned and the remains of the railway station-houses. They were 
the only visible evidences of the raid between Guira and Artemisa. 

Finally the train, crawling along at the rate of ten miles an hour, 
reached Artemisa, now a garrison town only, and the famous trocha 



CjQO THE STORY OF CUBA. 

was in sight. This trocha is a line of earthworks, dotted with tiny 
bloclc-houses. It stretches across the level country, north and south, as 
far as the eye can see. 

The town is filled with Spanish soldiers. They have nothing to do 
since the death of Maceo. 

The soil is a rich clay, like that of Virginia ; and the 
doctor says, of the hills that Maceo occupied so long: 

They are scarcely high enough to be called mountains, but are thickly 
wooded and seamed with deep ravines which offer a splendid refuge for 
the insurgents, who, warned by the pacificos, are able to double easily 
and elude their Spanish pursuers, whose search is prosecuted in a hostile 
country. 

I passed the place where Maceo camped in October, when he conducted 
his last military operations there. The camp was made of little huts of 
palm-leaves and grass thatched so as to offer a protection against the 
heavy rain. These huts were scattered about irregularly. There was 
no pretense of military regularity about them. Back of them was a 
thicket, a dense undergrowth, in which the Cubans could take refuge if 
attacked. It was a splendid vantage-point for guerrilla soldiers. 

Westward of this region the country grows poorer, and is only used 
for grazing. To my intense surprise I found large herds of cattle here 
grazing as quietly as if a war in Cuba had never been known. 

A desolate town was struck, however, at Palacio, and the famous 
Vuelta Abajo region, where the finest tobacco in the world is grown. 
Tobacco has been planted this year a little later than usual, it is true, 
and the green fronds may be seen waving in the sickly breeze as far as 
the eye can see. I saw no field in which tobacco had been planted in 
the past which is not under cultivation now. 

General Mulquiso had just returned from a fortnight's 
expedition, and said most of the rebels had-hidden their 
arms and were posing as pacificos, and remarked of 
Maceo that his death was a terrible blow to the rebel- 
lion, and 

His black followers sacrificed their homes in their devotion to him. 
His white adherents are worthless as fighting men. I found much suf- 
fering among the people of the hills. In many cases young children 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 59 I 

brought into camp were so nearly starved that they could not retain solid 
food. 

The plan of compelling the families of rebels to go to the towns is 
wise from a military standpoint. Your Sheridan swept clean the Shen- 
andoah Valley, not because he wished to, probably, but from a military 
necessity. I presume the time is not distant when the regular Spanish 
troops will abandon Pinar del Rio, leaving order to be restored by the 
civil guard and volunteers. 

The doctor returned to Havana on a train packed with sick officers 
and men going back towards the capital city, and possibly towards home. 
The most prevalent complaint was chills and fever, but some who had 
yellow fever were taken on. 

The most interesting matter communicated by the 
doctor is that he saw tobacco-fields in good condition, 
and herds of cattle. This is a surprise. There are 
certain verities avow themselves — and making allow- 
ances for the required friendliness toward Spain that 
permitted Mr. Bowen to go to the disputed territory, 
and have his dispatch passed — there remains a good 
deal of matter-of-fact of value. 

A correspondent of the Herald was permitted to ac- 
company Gen. Weyler to the field, and interviewed him 
in his tent on the day before Christmas. This was in 
the midst of a camp of 10,000 men at the foot of the 
Ranzil Hills. The correspondent says the General is 
approachable and unpretending, and said, " the com- 
plete pacification of the Province is a matter of a few 
days." The General thought the rebels had hidden their 
guns and were posing as pacificos, and many would 
come in and surrender, if they had not heard he would 
kill them all. He declared of the insurgents willing to 
lay down their arms : 

I know that they have held meetings with the idea of coming in as 
presentados, but have been told that I would murder them all, which 



592 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



is absurd, is it not ? Certainly I shall not harm them ; but, not knowing 
that, they hope to throw away their arms and pose as pacificos still. 

"When the presentados begin to come in crowds, and the rest find 
that they are not killed there will be a general rush to surrender." 

Much was not heard of General Reviera. Speaking 
of his force, General Weyler said : 

*' I have twenty-six battalions, ranging from eight hundred to a thou- 
sand men each, occupying all the hills of the Province. These columns 
have destroyed everything in sight, and have been able to subsist on the 
cattle of the insurgents, which were found grazing in the hills, and with 
whose destruction died their remaining hope of sustenance. They must 
either starve now or submit, and some may prefer to do the former, ow- 
ing to their remarkable apathy." 

Gen. Weyler invited the 'Herald man to dinner, and 
at the sound of the bugle the troops were called to get 
an extra ration of wine. There was a supply store with 
100,000 rations kept for an emergency. There are two 
further passages of importance in this letter, as follows : 

I arrived in San Cristobal December 23d, after a seven hours' journey 
in the train from Havana. We met troops all along our route. Trains 
with troops are arriving here every hour, and troops filled the road 
between each station. Half the passengers in the train were officials. 
From the train windows we could see all the roads clouded by large 
masses of soldiers. Cavalry columns were everywhere seen moving 
toward Pinar del Rio by all roads leading to that city. 

Everything looks sombre here for the insurgents. The friends of the 
insurgents here say that the rebels, although well equipped, are desper- 
ate on account of lack of food, and that if General Weyler follows the 
plans he proposes the insurgents on this side of the trocha will have 
either to fight and be killed in battle or starve. Unless assistance from 
General Gomez or Calixto Garcia comes to them, they will have to cross 
the trocha in small bands. 

The willingness of the Spaniards to allow the corre- 
spondents to see the inside of the Province where 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 593 

Maceo so long maintained himself, argues that they feel 
very sure of being- in complete command of that part 
of the country. But the representatives of Cuba stren- 
uously deny any approach to pacification in the west, 
and say there is an insurgent army of six thousand in- 
trenched on the hills, provided with provisions and 
armed with dynamite guns, and if that is so, Weyler 
has another tedious campaign before he can proclaim 
order and move east. The cause of Cuba ought not to 
be trifled with, as it is by the "news" Bureau at Key 
West, but it will go on in competition with the Spanish 
official romances, and the provocation given by the 
military censorship. Here is an example of the Key 
West production : 

ALMOST CAUGHT WEYLER — INSURGENTS~SURPRISE THE SPANISH CAPTAIN- 
GENERAL — HE WAS FOUND ON THE ARTEMISA MILITARY ROAD WITH 
A SMALL ESCORT SAVED BY THE ARRIVAL OF CAVALRY. 

Key West, Fla., Dec. 25. — Havana news indicates that Gen. Weyler 
is having more trouble in the Pinar del Rio section than he expected. 

As he was traveling the military road from Artemisa to San Cristobal, 
the second day of his arrival, with a smaller escort than usual, an attack 
was made on him, and but for the sudden and unexpected appearance of 
a company of Spanish cavalry he would have been captured. 

This road is one that Weyler keeps strongly guarded, but on that day 
a part of the troops was on another portion, and where Weyler was trav- 
eling the force was small. While crossing a bridge over a small creek, 
ambushed Cubans poured in a sudden fire, killing nearly half his escort. 

Weyler's horse shied and ran off, carrying his rider out of range. 
Dozens of Cubans pursued on foot. They fired at him, hoping to dis- 
able his horse and effect his capture. 

The sound of firing brought up a squadron of cavalry that was passing 
to Artemisa, and Weyler plunged into their midst in somewhat undigni- 
fied haste. The skirmish was continued for half an hour, but, finding 
that they were outnumbered, the insurgents withdrew. Since that Wey- 
ler has not gone out, except when guarded by a large force. 



eQ4 ^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

There was no foundation whatever for this story, 
and it is a folly to invent that sort of thing to be 
pumped into the country through the wires. There 
can be no mistake about it. The case is one of falsi- 
fication, descending to particulars of elaboration. 

Sefior Palma, the head of the Cuban Junta, refers 
effectively to Dr. Zertucha's letter, saying : 

" It is a sufficient indication of the man's character that he surrenders 
to the enemy, under the conditions in his case, and that he is treated m 
such a kindly manner by the Spaniards. 

" What more natural than that he, in combination with Spanish diplo- 
macy, should be the instrument by which the revolution should be dis- 
credited ? He certainly knows that this interview will ultimately be sent to 
Cuba, where it cannot be received by the Spaniards otherwise than with 
demonstrations of gratitude. 

"I know from letters received from General Antonio Maceo personally, 
as well as from a person of our mutual confidence, through whom we 
frequently communicated, that Maceo was not in the desperate straits 
depicted by Zertucha. The following extract from a letter lately received 
will show that Maceo was well satisfied with the condition of affairs : 

ANTONIO MACEO'S LETTER. 

"General Maceo wrote, under date of November 14th, as follows : 
"'The active operations of the campaign have prevented me, much 
against my wishes, from answering immediately your welcome communi- 
cations of the 19th and 25th of October. 

" ' General Rius Reviera happily disembarked with all the war material 
sent, which was well employed in a series of hard combats which we sus- 
tained against our enemies, but which were all most signal victories for 
us. The object of Weyler was to imprison our army between two fortified 
lines, and make us suffer a tremendous defeat by means of simultaneous 
attacks by forces previously placed in those positions ; but the most bril- 
liant success crowned our efforts — six of the enemy's columns which tried 
to impede our progress, after our saving the expedition of General Rius 
Rivera, being destroyed." 

It is also responsibly stated that Maceo, on the day 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 595 

before his death, referred with confidence to the rebel 
troops in Pinar del Rio.* 
Senor Palma says : 

"General Maceo was loved and supported by all men struggling for 
Cuban independence, whether in a military or civil capacity. If a man 
was ever idolized by his people, that man was General Maceo. Dr. Zer- 
tucha knows that, but perhaps he has an object in making his false 
assertions." 

This sort of statement has the power of moderation, 
and the malice of Dr. Zertucha in dragging in the race 
question is manifest. 

M. Caronado, formerly editor of La Discusidn, of 
Havana, knew Maceo well, and says of him : 

Maceo was a natural politician in that he had the genius of divining 
popular opinion, and taking the leadership of popular movements. He 
was in Havana at that time sounding men and scheming for the present 
revolution. He was always of the sunniest disposition, closely attaching 
all people to him — a man of the strictest moral integrity ; he never 
drank wine, he never smoked, and that in a land where tobacco is as 
common as potatoes in Ireland ; and he never played cards. He had a 
great abhorrence of men who drank to excess, and would not tolerate 
them about him. 

He always dressed when in Havana in the most finished style. His 
massive frame — he was about five feet ten inches in height and unusu- 
ally broad-shouldered — was displayed to advantage always in frock coat, 
closely buttoned, and he usually wore a silk hat. He was neat even to 
fastidiousness in his dress. He usually carried a cane. 

When Maceo took the field, however he roughed it with his men, 
and dressed accordingly. 

In active service he was habitually armed : 

with a long-barreled 38 calibre revolver with a mother-of-pearl handle, 
and carrying a Toledo blade made in the form of a machete. The han- 

* Of course there is a weekly story that Maceo is alive — an effort to utilize 
his ghost. 



59^ 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



die of this machete was finely wrought silver and turquoise shell, and had 
four notches in it, into which the fingers could easily fit. Maceo always 
had three horses with him on his marches, the favorite being a big white 
one. 

ANTONIO MACEO. 
Stern and unyielding, though others might bow to the tempest ; 
Slain by the serpent who cowered in hiding beneath thee. 
Slumber secure where the hands of thy comrades have laid thee ; 
Dim to thine ear be the roar of the battle above thee. 
Set, now, is thy sun, going down in darkness and menace, 
While through the thick-gathering clouds one red ray of vengeance 
Streams up to heaven, blood-red, from the place where thou liest. 
Though the sword of Death's angel lies cold on thy forehead, 
Still to the hearts of mankind speaks the voice of thy spirit, 
Still does thine angry shade arrest the step of the tyrant. V. B. 

—N. Y. Sun. 

There is a Key West dispatch, December 24th, stating 
that " Gen. Reviera is moving out of his intrenchments, 
and reports indicate that a battle may be fought soon ; " 
but if he has an army in a strong position, he will of 
course wait right there for Weyler, and they will not 
fight it out. The old policy is plenty of time. 

However, the word battle is habitually used in refer- 
ence to the Cuban combats as descriptive of very small 
affairs. If Reviera had ten thousand good men, there 
might be a chance for a decisive battle ; but the Junta 
claims that his force is six thousand strong. The story 
of the naval engagement is an example of the waste 
of words in picturesque writing. It seems a filibuster 
boat, whose reputation is well known — The Thi^ee 
Friends — encountered a Spanish launch and gunboat 
when attempting to land rifles and artillery and ammu- 
nition at the mouth of the San Juan river, on the south 
coast of Cuba, two hundred miles east of Havana, and 
there was considerable firing into the water, but no one 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 597 

hurt, and yet we read of "a sea fight," a " victory," for 
the boat that fled, and "a naval engagement," that 
should startle the world. Why, the story of the battle 
of the Nile was never printed in such colors as this fake 
fight, which simply shows the recklessness of filibus- 
ters, who made a narrow escape from furnishing the 
raw material for another Virginius case. The only 
thing of importance is the proof furnished of the long- 
known and formally denied business of the vessel whose 
crew and passengers boast that they fired on the flag 
of Spain, and "whipped up the sea" with their bullets. 
T\v& Journal has a characteristic proclamation from 
the eloquent, poetic Spanish statesman, Castelar, who 
writes in and is cabled from Madrid. 

And as Cleveland has acted, so will McKinley. As a Republican, he 
will perhaps do even more than would a Democrat to discourage jingoes 
who advocate a war, bound to be equally fatal to victor and vanquished, 
breaking the bonds of association which bind the Old World to the 
New. 

I see in Mr. Cleveland's message all the splendor of international 
humanity, and I deduce from it that he will stand as defender of his own 
theory not to recognize the belligerency of the Cubans, least of all to 
accord their independence or approve of intervention, even peaceful 
intervention — to say nothing of intervention by force of arms, since he 
feels that the eyes of the world are on him at this moment. 

It is necessary that liberty should walk hand in hand with peace; for 
cruel war overthrows all principles of justice, crushing the laws of human 
nature, by putting force against force, violence against violence, despot- 
ism against despotism. 

From external conquest it is but a step to internal oppression. That 
would be to do away with the work of Washington, and substitute for it 
the power of the Caesars, whose inevitable establishment drives and 
hastens us towards slavery and barbarism. 

I do not know whether my country will approve of my statement that 
its honor will be heightened by a continuance of economic reforms that 
seem even more dangerous than seemed in its time, the emancipation of 



598 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the slaves in Cuba, thus inaugurating a system of reforms that would 
strengthen our government in both the Antilles. 

With patriotism such as ours no egoistic influence can overlook the 
interests of our country, and no privileges engendered by protection 
should disturb a peace that menaces our sovereignty over Cuba, or our 
national honor. 

A liberal government like ours, conceived by great men and progres- 
sive statesmen, even in the lines that have distinguished the United 
States above nations, cannot learn from outsiders its faults in governing 
the Antilles or submit to a mediator. 

President Cleveland, like myself, was obviously persuaded of the truth 
when he wrote his message, completely favorable as it was to Spain. 
What surprises me is the senseless proposition, so favorably received by 
the Senate, recommending the acknowledgment of Cuban rebels as bel- 
ligerents — recommending the independence which is impossible, and 
which would be a frightful aggravation to the Spanish people and a vio- 
lation of international courtesy. 

They tell me that conflict is inevitable. It will be as uncalled for an 
aggression on the part of the United States as was that of Napoleon in 
1808, when he invaded our territory. We have listened to menaces with 
the stoic disdain of the just and true. We have done everything possible 
to avoid a war — everything but humiliate ourselves before the strong and 
sully our national history with indignity. 

But if the United States do, we cannot believe that the Americans, the 
humane, the progressive, will declare it. 

As for ourselves, we will do everything we can to avoid this sad inter- 
ference — without pride, but also without timidity. 

Emilio Castelar. 

As Cleveland has announced, the time must soon 
come when the United States shall not give the first 
place to her recognition of the sovereignty of Spain, 
it seems that the Spanish statesman may have been 
more complacent in his rhetoric than he suspected. We 
may put aside three things that persistently appear 
and reappear in dispatches, with a brief remark for 
each : 

I. There will be no European intervention on behalf 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 599 

of Spain, if we should take a part in the Cuban struggle 
and command the peace. 

2. Spain will not accept our good offices on any terms, 
or consent to an assertion of rights on our part to be 
interested in the great American Island. She has gone 
beyond that state of mind. 

3. There is nothing to regard as possible in any of 
the reforms the Spaniards are promising with much ani- 
mation, and to which they ascribe the greatest excel- 
lence, to take place after the insurgents have surrendered 
their arms. Spain is, as always, incapable of changing 
her fatal colonial policy, that never has been or can be 
reformed. 

The idle talk caused by the President's respectful ref- 
erence to the alleged autonomy of Cuba in his message 
is disposed of by Senor Palma in these words : 

Autonomy would mean that the Cuban people will make their own 
laws, appoint all of their public officers, except the Governor-General, 
and attend to the local affairs with entire mdependence, without, of 
course, interference by the metropolis. What, then, would be left to 
Spam, since between her and Cuba their is no commercial intercourse of 
any kind ? Spam is not, and cannot be, a market for Cuban products, 
and is moreover unable to provide Cuba with the articles in need by the 
latter. The natural market for the Cuban products is the United States, 
from which in exchange Cuba buys with great advantage, flour, provi- 
sions, machinery, etc. What, then, I repeat, is left to Spain but the big 
debt incurred by her, without the consent and against the will of the 
Cuban people ? We perfectly understand the autonomy of Canada as a 
colony of Great Britain. The two countries are closely connected with 
each other by the most powerful ties — the mutual interest of a reciprocal 
commerce. 

The Constitutional question of the comparative 
powers of Congress and the President in recognition 
of new nations is not of applicable importance to the 



6oO THE STORY OF CUBA: 

Cuban questions. The discussion may be instructive, 
and prepare the way for the enhghtened action of the 
incoming administration. Considering the summary of 
Secretary of State Olney, we remark the force and ac- 
curacy of it. The Secretary says : 

From every accessible indication, it is clear that the present rebellion 
is on a far more formidable scale, as to numbers, intelligence, and repre- 
sentative features, than any of the preceding revolts of this century ; that 
the corresponding effort of Spain for its repression has been enormously 
augmented ; and that, despite the constant influx of fresh armies and 
material of war from the metropolis, the rebellion, after nearly two years 
of successful resistance, appears to-day to be in a position to prolong 
mdefinitely the contest on its present lines. 

There will speedily be developments in Pinardel Rio 
that will show whether the force of the insurgents has 
been exaggerated in the general acceptance ; and if 
Gomez is at the head of the army he has been occupied 
with so long, he must hasten to meet Weyler, who 
claims to have conquered the West Enjd, and is certain, 
if he can make a plausible show of pacification there, to 
march eastward with his whole available force. Here 
we have the true test of the strength of the Cuban cause. 
Spain has done her utmost, as she is situated, with a re- 
bellion on her hands in the Philippine Islands ; and if 
the army and navy in and around Cuba cannot suppress 
the rebellion, it must succeed. Gomez is an old man, 
and the brunt of battle had fallen to the fortune of 
Maceo for six months before he was killed, but the im- 
putation that Gomez is disheartened or disloyal is a 
story that accords with the climate, prepared to arouse 
Cuban suspicion and jealousy. Now is the campaign- 
ing time, and Weyler means business in the field. This 
is the critical struggle. If the insurgents hold their 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 6oi 

own until June, they must unquestionably win ; and 
unless torn by factions and jealous incompetents, they 
will do that. It is a true case of *' freedom's bat- 
tle, once begun, bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, 
though baffled oft, is always won." There is no reason 
to conclude that the insurgents will not be able, in the 
Middle and Eastern Provinces, to protract the war 
indefinitely — a state of things that will force the recog- 
nition of independence. The United States will be con- 
strained, on the precise grounds stated by Secretary 
Olney, to inform the Spaniards that our good offices 
in relation to Cuba will be tendered in 1897, as they 
were by President Grant in 1869 — for the reasons then 
stated by Secretary Fish, and respectfully considered by 
General Prim, and must now be accepted. It is absurd 
to say, in the face of the civilized world, that the great 
American power has no interest in the great American 
Island. We have material interests there of great pro- 
portions, and the right to interpose to check a savage 
warfare that the Christian nations of Europe have, but 
do not exercise, at Constantinople. The cause of Cuba 
is not best served by those who are most forward and 
loud. We should tender our good offices to Spain, and 
relieve her from the embrace of death in which she is 
entangled ; but we should do it decently and in order, 
for her sake as well as Cuba's. Our responsibilities are 
so clear, and the situation so grave, and our power so 
compelling, we should disregard all frivolous fabrica- 
tions intended to precipitate our action as unworthy 
the cause abused, and proceed with the dignity becom- 
ing the predominant power of the American hemi- 
sphere to Americanize American islands. 



6o2 THE STORY OF CUBA, 



CHAPTER XXXIL 

SPANISH FINANCIAL CRISIS AND AMERICAN POLICY. 

Fighting in a Cloud — A Mystery of Horror — The Situation after Twenty- 
eight Months of War — How the Spanish Army is Wasted — Cuba in 
Congress — Belligerency Resolution — Policy of the Administration 
— The Foresight of Gomez — Fortunes of East and West Cuba — 
Crisis in Spanish Finance — Spain Agitated — Prospect for Peace — 
General Woodford Minister to Spain. 

The interest in Cuba abides, though the continuing 
tragedy crawls on until there is monotony of the horrible 
and the hopeless. The call for the third edition of 
this Story of Cuba, comes in the third of the rainy sea- 
sons since the outbreak of the war, which has lasted 
nearly two years and a half, and become to Americans 
almost mysterious — for the fight is in a cloud. The 
fall of Maceo proved to be a disaster of the first mag- 
nitude to the insurgents, and this was followed by 
the defeat and capture of his successor, General Reviera. 
The effect has been to give the Spaniards a prepon- 
derance in the Western Provinces, and to some extent 
justify the official assurances that Pinar del Rio has been 
" pacified." The insurgents there have indeed become 
an organization of guerillas, who have ceased to devas- 
tate the plantations, and railroad communication and 
tobacco-growing have been, to a considerable extent, 
resumed. The Spanish system of building a multitude 
of small forts, and garrisoning them with groups of 
soldiers, often not exceeding half a do^en, lends itself 
to the partial protection of those who are willing to 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 603 

work in the fields ; and there has always been in Cuba 
a feeling that while sugar-making counted for Spain, 
tobacco-raising was especially a Cuban industry. While 
the West End of Cuba has been generally overcome 
by the Spaniards, in the East End the rebellion outside 
the garrisoned towns is successful, and the Central 
Provinces are disputed territory, where the sugar plan- 
tations not devastated pay taxes to both governments, 
and private requisitions to the officers of both. The 
most distressing feature of the war is, the concen- 
tration of the Cuban small farmers within the Spanish 
military lines, where they are perishing of famine and 
pestilence. Captain-General Weyler invented the pol- 
icy of making the peasantry leave their humble homes 
and fields and put themselves under the protection 
— that is, within the power — of the Spanish forces, 
because the assistance the country people gave the in- 
surgents was constantly obvious. A Spanish column 
could not move an hour's march without full reports 
reaching their enemies, with endless facilities for ambus- 
cades, while it was impossible for the regular troops to 
get news of rebel movements. No persuasions or threats 
could prevail with the islanders to aid by giving infor- 
mation to those attempting their subjugation. This 
fact is itself proof of the desperate resolution of the 
Cubans to fight Spain to the last. They feel that Span- 
ish rule is intolerable — that it is martial law modified 
by corruption, and not, under any conditions, to be en- 
dured. The information of the terrible sanitary condi- 
tions of the camps in which the Cubans are penned, 
reached President McKinley very early in his adminis- 
tration. Special reports were ordered from all our 
representatives in the Island, and these confirmed the 



6o4 ^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

narratives of the privation and perishing of those chil- 
dren of Spain who would not serve her and aid in extin- 
guishing- their own hopes of liberty. The consular 
reports contained much about the hardships of Ameri- 
can citizens, and an exaggerated idea of their numbers 
in the squalid camps was formed. Many Cubans, hav- 
ing no protection under the Spanish law as citizens 
— being in a condition much worse than to have no coun- 
try — and looking naturally to the great Northern Re- 
public for sympathy at least, and hoping for help, have 
taken advantage of our policy making naturalization 
easy, to become citizens of the United States. They 
are very proud and pleased to be American citizens, 
and swift to tell of the possession of that dignity — 
placing upon it, as a rule, an extreme estimation. There 
is something pathetic in the testimony they bear in this 
way to our greatness — but it is not one of their cardi- 
nal virtues to be moderate and judicious — and there 
are curious American citizens discovered during the 
agfitations of civil warfare. The rig-htsof naturalization 
have indeed been abused, and there are point and pith 
in the anecdote related of Consul-General Williams, 
that when a correspondent made representations that 
seemed doubtful as to the purpose for which he wanted 
his passport, the serious and able old functionary swore 
him on his " honor as a native American citizen," andv 
found at last even this remarkable oath not regarded. 
The President was moved by the reports of the suffer- 
ings of Americans under the harsh rule of Weyler, and 
sent a special message, asking an appropriation of 
$50,000 for the relief of our citizens with food or medi- 
cine or transportation to this country. It was reported 
that the Americans were nearly all workingmen, who 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 605 

had been employed on sugar plantations, but there have 
not been as many genuine American citizens found for 
relief as was expected. 

During the year the Captain-General has made many 
journeys in the course of the operations he has been 
pleased to "order and command," and has not come to 
harm from the sharpshooters who seek his life. His 
favorite method of travel has been by steamer, and 
there are portions of the coast with which he has be- 
come familiar, but his journeys by rail and on horse- 
back have also been extensive. However, the immo- 
bility of the Spanish columns continues to puzzle the 
observer, and the wonder grows how, with so important 
an army — for the available Spanish troops, according to 
the pay rolls, are more than a hundred thousand strong* 
— there has not been much fighting — only a few scat- 
tering skirmishes — and the casualty lists are small, in- 
deed, when the expenditure of ammunition and money 
is considered. There have been many accounts of 
" battles " in the Spanish official reports and the Key 
West dispatches, but there has not been a "battle" in 
Cuba that in the least chanored the face of affairs for 
more than a year. ^The pacification of the Island goes 
on, according to the authorities, and yet — it is Madrid 
news — more troops are wanted. Spain has made sur- 
prising efforts and sacrifices, but the results certainly do 
not warrant the continuance of the war. We hear reg-u- 
garly from Key West of splendid successes by the reb- 
els, but if there is any fact at all behind the stories, it is 
shadowy. The favorite rebel feat of arms is the march 
of Gomez on Havana, which is romance — fiction barely 
founded on fact. If there was a considerable percentage 

* Not counting those in the forts. 



6o6 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

of truth in the accounts of battles given by either side, 
the truth would commend itself to the American people, 
but the grand talk of small matters only excites contempt. 
The Cubans have been intensely anxious, from the 
first of the war, as to the position of the United States, 
and had hopes that our presidential election in 1896 
would turn upon the Cuban question. The form in 
which the policy of the islanders has been presented in 
Congress and through the organs of the sentiments of 
the insurgents, has been that of obtaining recognition of 
their rights as belligerents, but the real question has 
been whether the rebellion should be aided by our 
action. Senator Morgan's joint resolution, so warmly 
debated, in May, in the Senate, is in these terms : 

Resolved, etc., That a condition of public war exists between the gov- 
ernment of Spain and a government proclaimed, and for some time main- 
tained by force of arms^, by the people of Cuba, and that the United 
States of America shall maintain a strict neutrality between the contend- 
ing powers, according to each all the rights of belligerents in the ports 
and territory of the United States. 

It was anticipated that this resolution, vehemently 
discussed, would make necessary a declaration of the 
Cuban policy of the McKinley administration. The 
leadership of the movement was in the hands of the 
Southern Democratic senators, aided by the Populists, 
and a few Republicans took advanced ground on the 
same side, passing the resolution May 30th. The vote 
was: yeas, 41 ; nays, 14; not voting, '^^^y- 

It was the strenuous contention of the advocates of 

' the resolution that it meant only to show the Cubans 

fair play, but the deeper significance of the proposal to 

grant belligerent rights was not stated with precision. 

Cubans, with the joint resolution a law, would have 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 6oj 

a shadowy credit for bond issues and a chance to send 
out privateers attacking" Spanish commerce ; and the 
Spaniards have the right of search of our ships off 
Sandy Hook. These things, taken together, surely 
threaten war with Spain. As the Spanish army in Cuba 
is fed with imported food, we would have only to block- 
ade the Island to force the capitulation of the forces of 
Spain and their evacuation of the Island ; but we could 
not blockade Spain, and her cruisers would inflict great 
losses on our commerce — if not otherwise, through the 
rise in the rates of insurance — and the war, without fir- 
ing a gun, would cost us $500,000,000. It was notice- 
able that the senators favorable to the unlimited coin- 
age of silver in legal tender form without limit were 
for the most radical and passionate course in Cuban af- 
fairs ; and there was, apparently, an idea that if we 
should find ourselves at war with Spain we would be 
speedily forced to a silver basis, a situation devoutly 
desired by the majority of the supporters of the bel- 
ligerency resolution. The open policy of the adminis- 
tration was first to be sure of the facts. This was the 
part of wisdom, because the conflict of assertions as to 
the real situation in Cuba has been remarkable, and it 
was evident the President would not permit his hand to 
be forced. It was a surprise when Senator Fairbanks 
of Indiana, well known to be in close relations with the 
President and his advisers, made a speech — his first in 
the Senate — proposing the following amendment to the 
resolution of Senator Morgan of Alabama, striking out 
all after the resolving clause and inserting : 

That the Congress of the United States views with deep solicitude the 
deplorable civil strife in the Island of Cuba, which is so destructible to 
life and property, and which is embarrassing and destroying the com- 



6o8 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

merce of the United States with Cuba. The highest motives of human- 
ity and public interest require the cessation of hostilities and the estab- 
lishment of peace, and that the President shall, in a friendly spirit, tender 
the good offices of the United States to Spain, to the end that bloodshed 
may speedily cease, and that honorable and permanent peace may be 
established in the Island of Cuba ; and further, 

That the President, in a spirit of amity, tender the good offices of the 
United States to Spain, in an endeavor to secure the independence of 
Cuba upon terms alike honorable and just to all powers concerned. And 
if the President shall be unable, by such friendly intercession, to secure 
the independence of Cuba within a reasonable time, he shall communi- 
cate the facts to Congress, with his recommendations thereon. 

In the course of his speech, Senator Fairbanks said: 

A new administration is in power, not yet three months old — an ad- 
ministration charged with great responsibility. Shall we act in this grave 
matter regardless of its views or policies respecting foreign affairs ? Shall 
the Congress take one position and the Executive another upon a ques- 
tion of such moment and obvious delicacy ? If so, what will be the effect, 
not only upon the fortune of Cuba, but upon our domestic affairs, sensi- 
tive and unsettled as they are ? 

Mr. President, if I correctly apprehend those who favor the resolution 
of the Senator from Alabama, one of the chief purposes to be accom- 
plished by the recognition of belligerency is to legitimatize the war in 
Cuba; it is to change barbarous warfare into civilized warfare. The im- 
mediate purpose is not to stop the war, but to alter its character. 

Sir, I hold to the opinion that all war is barbarous. I am against war, 
civilized or uncivilized, except it be necessary to redeem people from 
oppression, or be for national defense, or to sustain the national honor in 
the protection of American citizenship. I preferred a reference of the 
joint resolution to the Foreign Relations Committee, that it might deter- 
mine whether under all the facts, according to the official information in 
the possession of the government, it could not report a resolution which 
will accomplish what the resolution offered by the Senator from Alabama 
fails to secure, and that is, peace and the independence of Cuba. 

Upon the recognition of belligerent rights, Mr. President, we do not 
stop the war; we merely dignify it. When will it cease? How much 
longer will the slaughter continue ? How much longer will the sword and 
torch devour? No one can tell; no one can measure the loss. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 609 

I would prefer a policy more certain, more direct. Let us come out 
into the open and be for war or against it. If a great moral responsibil- 
ity rests upon us, as I believe it does, let us discharge it squarely and fairly. 

Sir, I would forthwith tender the good offices of this government to 
the Spanish cabinet, to the end that war cease. And further, I would 
open amicable negotiations to secure the independence of Cuba, which, 
under the providence of the Almighty, is its manifest destiny. If these 
peaceful and honorable methods fail and the war should continue, I 
would have no hesitancy in reaching out the mighty arm of this govern- 
ment and saying, "This war shall cease." But, sir, such an extreme 
measure will not be necessary to accomplish an honorable peace. 

Some of the distinguished Senators who belong to the party which 
holds my loyal allegiance have professed to support the resolution of the 
Senator from Alabama because, as they hold, it is in consonance with 
the platform adopted at St. Louis. I heard the distinguished Senator 
from Ne])raska [Mr. Thurston], who presided over the deliberations of 
that great congress of American citizens assembled at St. Louis with 
such conspicuous ability, read the platform this morning and declare his 
approval of it. With due deference to the honorable Senator, I must 
utterly and entirely repudiate the suggestion that the resolution proposed 
by the Senator from Alabama is in accord with the Republican platform, 
for, in my judgment, it is against it. The platform upon the Cuban 
question declared that — 

From the hour of achieving their own independence the people of the 
United States have regarded with sympathy the struggles of other Amer- 
ican people to free themselves from European domination. We watch 
with deep and abiding interest the heroic battle of the Cuban patriots 
against cruelty and oppression, and our best hopes go out for the full 
success of their determined contest for liberty. 

•The government of Spain having lost control of Cuba, and being 
unable to protect the property or lives of resident American citizens, or 
to comply with its treaty obligations — 

Note carefully what follows — 

we believe that the government of the United States should actively use 
its influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to 
the Island. This language is free from ambiguity. Its meaning is not 
involved in the slightest doubt. Peace and independence are to be ob- 
tained through the active agency of the United States. 



6 10 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

There is a good deal of disparagement of Gomez, but 
his idea, reported by Mr. Dawley, that the old chieftain's 
policy is to keep up Spanish expenses, at as light cost 
as possible to the Cuban cause, is the wisest thing that 
can be done. It shows that Gomez is far more than a 
bushwhacker. He has been moving westward within 
a few weeks, and a correspondent of the Sun, writing 
from Cardinas, Province of Matanzas, July 7th, gives a 
striking example of the characteristics of Cuban warfare, 
a study of which will answer many questions as why 
the Spaniards with their great superiority of forces fail. 

A long distance away the approach of a Spanish column sounds like 
the coming of a large herd of belled cattle. In addition, the flock of 
vultures above the column, which in Cuba, as throughout the tropics, 
always follows crowds of men moving through the country, is infallible 
evidence that the Spaniards are near at hand. 

The river Hanabana, called also Jatibonico, is the south boundary 
line between the provinces of Matanzas and Santa Clara. I reached it 
on June 27, near sunset, but could not cross because the Spanish column 
of Vizcaya, 5.000 strong, was encamped on the north side in Matanzas. 
We were three miles from the town of Amarillas, and I and my guide 
concealed ourselves a mile from the town in a thick manigua or forest, 
from where we could easily and safely watch the movements of the Span- 
iards. During the night we slept soundly. Next morning at five o'clock 
the Spanish trumpets calling every man to his place, or diana, z.% the 
Spanish say, awoke us. The column was four hours crossing the river 
to Santa Clara province on the railroad bridge. An hour later we also 
crossed the same bridge with our horses. When we reached the other 
side the column was disappearing toward the northeast. The men of 
Vizcaya were going to meet Gen. Gomez, and a few moments after the 
last Spaniard had disappeared from view we saw the first scouts of Gen. 
Francisco Carillo, commander of Gomez's vanguard, coming from the 
southeast. One of them, recognizing us, advised me to wait there. 
Over 200 Cuban cavalry crossed the river into Matanzas, and an hour 
later Carillo's force, 1,100 men, nearly all cavalry, arrived. 

Gen. Carrillo would not be recognized now by those who saw him in 
New York in 1895. He is twice as fat as he was then, and wears a long 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 6ll 

beard. Shortly after CarriUo arrived, Maximo Gomez, with a force of 
only 500 cavalrymen, also reached the bridge. 

I could not speak to Gomez until late in the evening. 

With regard to help from the United States, Gen. Gomez said : 

" I have no great hopes of the interference of the American govern- 
ment in our favor. According to my information. President McKinley 
is inclined toward the home rule solution, which is no solution at all. 
This is a war to the death for independence, and nothing but independ- 
ence will we accept. To talk of home rule is to idle away time. But I 
have hopes that the United States, sooner or later, will recognize our 
belligerency. It is a question of mere justice, and, in spite of all the 
arts of diplomacy, justice wins in the long run. The day we are recog- 
nized as belligerents I can name a fixed time for the end of the war. 

" With regard to paying an indemnity to Spain, that is a question of 
amount. A year ago we could pay $100,000,000, and I was ready to 
agree to that. Now that Spain owes more than $400,000,000, we will 
not pay so much. 

Here, again, the old chieftain is clearly well-informed 
and resolute, and he knows where the tender spot of 
the Spaniards is. They are vulnerable in their finances. 
A clever and valuable contribution to the history of the 
Cuban war is a paper by Thomas Gold Alvord, in the 
July number of the Forum. He refers to the multitude 
of little forts that swallow up the Spanish army. It is 
estimated that more than one-half the Spaniards are 
cooped in these pens, and "the balance of the forces 
not doing clerical or staff work is divided into columns 
which march to little purpose from one of the little for- 
tified towns to another." As to the state of the Island, 
Mr. Alvord says : 

The two eastern provinces, Santiago de Cuba and Puerto Principe, are 
already "Cuba Libre." There the new government is discharging all 
its functions almost without annoyance. In the other four provinces, 
the rebels are practically the rulers outside the large cities. For more 
than two years, with a maximum strength of scarcely 30,000 indifferently 
armed guerilla soldiers, the insurgents have, on a narrow island, sue- 



6l2 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

cessfully waged war against 235,000 well-armed troops, assisted by 
militia, supported by a navy, and maintained by constant supplies. 

There appears here, as in all reliable testimony, the 
fact of the division of the Island — the east end Cuban, 
the west end Spanish. Mr. Alvord says : 

General Gomez never has more than 300 or 400 men with him. His 
favorite camp is near Arroyo Blanco, on a high plateau, difificult to ap- 
proach, and covered with dense thicket. He posts his outer pickets at 
least three miles away, in the directions from which the enemy may 
come. The Spaniards, whenever possible, march by road ; and, with 
these highways well guarded, Gomez sleeps secure. He knows that his 
pickets will be informed by some Cuban long before the Spanish column 
leaves or passes the nearest village to attack him. A shot from the 
farthest sentry causes little or no excitement in Gomez's camp. The 
report throws the Spanish column into fears of attack or ambush, and 
it moves forward very slowly and carefully. Two pickets at such a time 
have been known to hold 2,000 men at bay for a whole day. If the col- 
umn presses on, and General Gomez hears a shot from a sentinel near 
by, he will rise leisurely from his hammock and give orders to prepare 
to move camp. He has had so many experiences of this kind that not 
until he hears the volley-shooting of the oncoming Spaniards will he call 
for his horse, give the word to march, and disappear, followed by his 
entire force, into the tropical underbrush, which closes like a curtam 
behind them, leaving the Spaniards to discover a deserted camp, without 
the slightest trace of the path taken by its recent occupants. 

Sometimes Gomez will move only a mile or two. The Spaniards do 
not usually give chase. If they do, Gomez takes a keen delight in lead- 
ing them in a circle. If he can throw them off by nightfall, he goes to 
sleep in his camp of the morning happier than if he had won a battle. 
The Spaniards learn nothing through such experiences. Gomez varies 
the game occasionally by marching directly toward the rear of the foe, 
and there, reinforced by other insurgent bands of the neighborhood, 
falling upon the column and punishing it severely. While his immedi- 
ate force is only a handful, the General can call to his aid, in a short 
time, nearly 6,000 men. 

The Cubans are almost entirely cavalry, and they are 
not good marksmen, though they have a grand con- 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 613 

fidence in themselves. The Spaniards have the splendid 
Mauser magazine rifles, and do not take care of them, 
knocking off the sights because they tear clothes. The 
way business is done is displayed in this relation by Mr. 
Alvord : 

In one province, the commandante milttar, when ordered by General 
Weyler to purchase several hundred horses in the neighborhood, and to 
pay for them with due-bills on Spain, informed the horse-owners that they 
need not give up their valuable animals for a worthless $50 draft, but that 
they could arrange the matter with his secretary. One of the horse- 
owners paid at the rate of $100 for every horse he was asked to furnish, 
and was told that horses good enough for the service would be bought in 
New Orleans or Mexico to make up his quota. The secretary of this 
commandante was said, by a bank clerk who keeps his account, to have 
deposited $40,000 within three months. The amount of the account of 
the commanda?ite was not learned. 

That a great deal of inefficiency of the Spanish forces 
arises from the corruption that is found in both civil and 
military administration, there is reason to believe. The 
recent arrest of many of the leading business men of 
Havana, without apparent cause, and the sudden dis- 
missal of the cases, goes to show the distrust those who 
profit by the war, soldiers as well as merchants, have for 
each other. However, the theory the writer in the 
Forum so freely quoted leads up to, that the Captain- 
General and those highest in his confidence do not want 
the war closed in complete victory for the Spanish arms, 
cannot be accepted, because, if Weyler should succeed, 
no honors in his country could be refused him. He 
would be the hero of his day and generation in Spain. 

Mr. George Bronson Rae, after many experiences in 
Cuba, wrote for the Herald 2^ comparison betw^een Ciiban 
and Indian warfare that may throw light upon the inabil- 
ity of the Spaniards to overcome all opposition. He says : 



6l4 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

The Cubans fondly believe that their present tactics are a revelation 
to military authorities the world over, but most of our army officers are 
fully acquainted with such methods. 

Our Indian wars furnish probably the best comparison that can be 
made. Just imagine that the Spaniards are our regular army and the 
Indians the Cubans. I know that this comparison is a rather poor one, 
judged by the relative merits of the different sides, as our army is infinitely 
superior to the Spanish, and the Indians are far more sagacious and 
astute and are better shots than the Cubans. 

But the Indians and Cubans alike, having a perfect knowledge of every 
trail, river and water hole in their respective habitats, rarely travel on 
the high roads or principal thoroughfares that the troops are accustomed 
to march over, but roam around through the hills, forests and out-of-the- 
way places with impunity. 

The history of our Seminole War in the Florida ever- 
glades is precisely in point. 

Gomez, it is reported, is changing the scene of his 
operations into Matanzas; and he may do so, as the 
Spaniards did not imagine he would undertake to be 
aggressive in the rainy season. He has issued a procla- 
mation stating that he will thank the forces of liberation 
in the Havana province for what they have done there 
at the gates of the Capital ! There has appeared in the 
West a new leader of the insurgents, Arango, of aristo- 
cratic Cuban family, who has a mass of black men, all 
infantry, and a new system of intrenching himself, that 
is said to trouble the Spaniards. 

The Cuban cause has been morally damaged by the 
policy of the torch, and by the literary bureau at Key 
West, run in exactly the wrong way, to counteract the 
Spanish official fictitious reports, because it is but one 
side of a competition in misrepresentation. 

The sugar crop of Cuba has been very largely de- 
stroyed, and this has taken from the supply of the world 
nearly one million tons a year of sugar, and yet the 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 615 

price has not increased. Indeed, it has shghtly decHned. 
Simply the beet-sugar industry has been augmented, 
and the visible wealth of Cuba, upon which the securi- 
ties of an independent government would rest, has 
vanished. This is rather cutting off the resources of 
Cuba than of Spain. 

After all that is said by Weyler and Gomez, and in 
Madrid, Washington, Key West and Havana, there is 
no probability of a material change in the military or 
political situation in Cuba. The Spaniards will remain 
in the forts and towns, and the columns march in- 
consequently. The insurgents must remain in small 
bands that they may subsist on the country, and there 
will be neither conquest nor other "pacifications." The 
mighty rains will, until the last month of the year, drench 
the deep soil of the Island, and the sun flame upon 
the tropical vegetation. There will be skirmishes — a few 
of them bloody — and expeditions — but nothing revolu- 
tionary — Spain losing time and money. The general 
gain will be by the insurgent. He recuperates swinging 
in his hammock while it rains. The Spanish reforms 
will not receive attention. All Cubans know, and one 
would think the Spaniards might be aware, there can 
be no paper promise of reform worth examination. In 
a recent talk, as in many proclamations and interviews, 
Gomez says : 

Spain might better stop all preparations she may be making to grant 
reforms to Cuba. We will accept neither reforms nor home rule. We 
have had enough of Spanish promises during 400 years of oppression. 
Spain must know that this war is only for independence, and that the 
Cubans will rather die than yield to any other solution. The day we 
again lifted our flag of liberty we wrote on it, " Independence or death." 

These words fairly express the facts, but the boast of 



6l6 ^ THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the old warrior, that he will appear at the gates of 
Havana, need not be regarded, for if he should even 
draw near that city, as he did in the time of Campos, 
the movement would be bravado rather than business, as 
when Hannibal threw his javelin over the walls of Rome. 
It is the manifest destiny of Cuba to gain her inde- 
pendence through the collapse of the resources of Spain, 
and with the sympathy and humane and peaceful aid 
of the United States. Gomez is right when he touches 
the expenses of Spain as consuming her credit and forc- 
ing her submission to circumstances. There has been 
evidence for two months of a profound agitation in 
Spain- — a quiet struggle, because there is great agony in 
it, and a despairing effort that the worst shall not be 
kjuown. The project of sending 20,000 more men to 
Cuba has distressed the Spanish people, and the El Pais 

says : 

Madrid, July ist. 

This is too much. Spain cannot acquiesce in this. After having suf- 
fered so much, the country has decided not to make any more fruitless 
sacrifices. "Not one more soldier, not one more cent," is now Spain's 
motto. 

The government's conduct toward patriotic Spain is monstrous. Our 
rulers should compare the attitude of the Spanish people with that of the 
French and Italians, who seriously objected to sending reinforcements 
to the armies in Madagascar and Eritrea. How can the men who gov- 
ern us continue to demand the sacrifice of our youth and money, which 
our industry and agriculture so sorely need ? The country is tired, of 
war and will not renew its efforts to continue the present war, much less 
to undertake another one, with the United States, for instance. 

What a mockery ! Scarcely a month ago Cuba was said to be pacified. 
All that remained to do was to extinguish several bands of ruffians scat- 
tered throughout the Island. Suddenly the scene changes, and Sefior 
Canovas himself confirms the news that we have met new disasters in 
Cuba. He adds that we must prepare to send a new army corps to the 
Island ! 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 617 

Before Spain had sent 200,000 soldiers to Cuba and exhausted 
her treasury, war with the United States could have had the support of 
the nation. But there is no reason why we should now make more ef- 
forts. We have neither money, credit nor men to sacrifice. Let us fin- 
ish at once, whatever the end may be. 

There is a crisis in Spain, because her credit is gone. 
In order to raise money, it was absolutely necessary she 
should have for the wars in the Philippine Islands and 
in Cuba, she has pledged the customs in the Philippines, 
and has extended, to get Cuban war-money, the con- 
tract with the Rothschilds for the famous Almaden 
Quicksilver Mines. A writer in the Su7i says of them : 

From 1870 to 1896, according to the official reports of the Spanish 
Ministry of Finances, Spain has derived from the mines $36,000,000, 
the product of the small percentage which, according to the terms of the 
contract with the Rothschilds, has been given to the Spanish government. 

It was only hard necessity that caused the pledging 
of this great natural source, which is simply putting up 
collateral to sustain the national bonds. 

The Paris edition of the New York Herald of June 
1 8th, contained a remarkable letter from Madrid, dated 
June 15th, headed, "Spain's Finances in a Very Bad 
Way." The incident that was celebrated was " the 
alarming news " that the Spanish government was re- 
solved to charge in gold for telegrams sent to foreign 
countries. The Spaniards regarded this as a case of 
tampering with the currency in Spain itself, as they have 
in Porto Rico and Cuba. The silver coinage of Porto Rico 
was deliberately debased two years ago. The Madrid 
correspondent of the Paris Herald sdijs : " Every month 
of the war in Cuba swells the already colossal Spanish 
deficit by seven million dollars, and besides this, owing 
to the disingenuous attitude of the authorities, it is 



6l8 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

impossible to accurately ascertain what arrears of pay 
are owing to the Spanish soldiery." This comes with 
the greater force from the Herald, as it has shown a 
very proper sensibility as to the correct treatment of 
the financial difficulties of Spain. It is in the financial 
condition of Spain that the Cubans have the best hope 
of soon winning their independence. 

The funded debt of Spain, bearing interest at 4 per 
cent, per annum, is $1,200,000,000, and of this sum 
$400,000,000 is held outside of Spain, principally in 
France. Spain has also an unfunded floating debt of 
$200,000,000, and a Cuban guarantee debt of $350,000,- 
000, bearing interest at 5 and 6 per cent., originally 
issued at from 80 to 95, and now selling at from 63 to 
65. The funded and unfunded debt of Spain is $1,750,- 
000,000 — that is to say, with something less than one- 
fourth of our population, Spain's debt is more than 
twice as large as ours. The debt of Spain is $73.85 per 
capita ; that of the United States, $14.63. The Spanish 
debt is not only crushing in proportions, but in a condi- 
tion that discloses exhaustion threatening general dis- 
aster. The $200,000,000 floating debt is money spent 
in the Cuban war, and the $350,000,000 Cuban guaran- 
tee is charged to Cuba, but Spain is responsible, so that 
there are $550,000,000 — the sum almost two-thirds of 
that of the funded debt of the United States — an over- 
whelming burden that would be cast upon Cuba in case 
of Spanish military triumph. Mark the course of the 
Cuban guarantee bonds in the market. The bonds (6 
per cents.) were issued at 95, or 5 per cent, below par, 
though bearing 50 per cent„ more interest than the 
$1,200,000,000 of Spanish 4 per cents. The charges on 
the bonds (Cuban guarantee) are $6 a year for the face of 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



619 



$100, and only yielded 95, and have fallen to 65, a loss 
of 30 per cent, to the investor, or $105,000,000 decline 
in the market value of the bonds since they were placed. 

Is it any wonder that efforts of the Spanish govern- 
ment to obtain a large loan in Paris have for two years 
been unsuccessful ? Here is a loss of more than one 
hundred millions of dollars on the Cuban oraarantee — 
the 6 per cents, standing in the market 35 per cent, be- 
low par. Six millions of dollars have already been / 
obtained by pledging the Philippine customs, and the 
Rothschilds will advance thirty-four millions on the re- 
newal of the contract for the quicksilver mine that they 
have held for twenty-seven years, and that has been 
enormously profitable to them. This mine is the richest 
natural resource of Spain. It is reported that the Roths- 
childs' profit on it has been three millions a year, and 
they are lending money on it that may keep the Span- 
ish forces in Cuba a few months longer. Such is the 
gloomy outlook of the Spanish financial year opening 
July I, 1897. 

They have gold coin in Spain and silver coin, and 
both are legal tender, but the only silver coin that is 
legal tender is the five-peseta piece, the issue of which 
is limited. The floating bank paper is redeemable in 
silver. The whole income of Spain from Cuba for the 
year 1893, published in the 1897 book, shows 24,000,000 
pesos income, but only twelve of that for customs duties. 
The interest, at five per cent., on the present war debt 
of $350,000,000 is largely in excess of the whole customs 
duties pledged, showing that Spain has overpledged to 
the public the Cuban revenues for interest on the war 
debt. To convert the floating bank notes payable in 
pesetas into sterling exchange they are figured at a con- 



620 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

siderable discount from the coinage value of silver ; that 
is to say, they take them at about fourteen cents apiece, 
because the floating paper is not actually redeemed ; it 
is reissued from time to time as received by the banks. 
Spain has done something more than overpledge the 
revenues of Cuba. She has attempted to load the peo- 
ple of the Island with a debt that is impossible ; and the 
Money Power of the world has, by refusing Spanish 
• bonds without collateral, condemned the war upon 
Cuba, and forbidden that it shall go further on the 
national credit of Spain. That is the Spanish crisis ; 
and the only way money can be raised for the Cuban 
war is by the Spaniards, as individuals, taking the bonds 
of their country at some figure, and by the pledging of 
the last natural resources and the income of the mono- 
polies that oppress the people. 

Thus the /credit of Spain more and more departs. 
Those who have the responsibility in Spain of find- 
ing money to go on with the most horrible war, pes- 
tilence and famine in Cuba, are appalled by the finan- 
cial situation, and hence the commotion about cabinets 
at Madrid and Captain-General Weyler's statement at 
Santiago de Cuba, that important operations could not 
be carried on in the rainy weather — and these are the 
days of the Cuban deluge — strike the Spaniards with 
despair. We may be sure, whatever is their irrita- 
bility, that they will soon feel they must escape from 
the Island that consumes their men and money. This 
is the time that will find President McKinley informed, 
and anxious to make a peace in Cuba that will preserve 
the honor of Spain as a military nation, and save her 
blood and gold for home rule and service. 

There is much in the history of that which is going on 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. ■ 62 1 

in Spain that one cannot call witnesses to prove. The 
most serious testimony we have about the state of af- 
fairs in Cuba — and we may extend the remark in special 
senses to Spain — comes from those who must be incon- 
spicuous, and in proportion to the import of the infor- 
mation they give is the necessity (for it is a matter of 
life and death) that they shall be unknown. 

There is a class of persons in Cuba who are not par- 
tisans of either the Spaniards or of the Cuban insur- 
gents, and they are rarely, if ever, mentioned in the 
papers. They have the real news from both sides, and 
they do not deal in it habitually, and are slow in giving 
confidence. Usually these silent and capable observers 
are those who have something besides their lives to 
lose, and intelligence is conveyed by them that can 
only be told in outline — omitting names and places 
— and they will never be called before a^y committee. 
There is a certain community between the business men 
in Spain and Cuba, and the situation is as thoroughly 
knowrrin Havana outside as inside official circles, and 
in some respects the outsiders have the advantage. 

The business men's information from the inside is 
that the banks through which money had been obtained 
represented that there were no results bearing propor- 
tion to the military force employed, and that money 
could not be found for the year beginning July ist ; 
hence the necessity of looking events in the face, and 
this forced the renewal of the quicksilver contract. 
In the midst of the flurry appeared and disappeared 
the figure of Campos, who said, when he left Havana 
nearly a year and a half ago, that Cuba could not be 
conquered by sheer force. He is a financier as well as 
soldier. Whatever money Spain raises must come from 



62 2 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

the French and Belgian bankers. Her loans cannot be 
placed in England, Holland or Germany. It is the evi- 
dence of things seen that what the Rothschilds say in 
these transactions is the voice of the money power of 
Europe, and that this house has called for " collateral " 
before making a loan, in the stress of the struggles of 
Spain, plagued as she is with war in the Philippines 
and agitations at home, is one of the sinister signs of 
failure, the arrival of the time when it is the part of 
dignity and honor to take conclusive steps to end the 
colonial wars. 

There is an example of business-men's news in this 
striking communication from a source that is responsi- 
ble, but must remain unknown. 



Information from Spanish sources indicates that the situation at Ha- 
vana is more serious than General Weyler is willing to admit. 

This state of facts grew out of the recent arrest of a large number of 
Spanish merchants, who, while loyal to Spain, have been making money 
out of the insurrection. 

This agitation threatens to make trouble among the volunteers serving 
with the Spanish army, who have not been paid for months, and who, 
with poor clothing and empty stomachs, are not in very good shape for 
serious work. 

The situation in Spain is most interesting. The announcement that 
additional troops would be sent to Cuba aroused the clerical party, and 
they are now agitating, and, it is said, even preaching, against sending 
more soldiers to Cuba. This agitation naturally encourages the Carlists, 
who are not contemplating any serious action, but it gives an element of 
unrest that is very painful to all supporters of the present dynasty. 

The agitation of the Republicans is not as yet serious in its nature, 
but may become so at any time. With the unrest and threats against 
the reigning dynasty, the government and all loyal Spaniards are more 
ready than ever before to see the return to Spain of the large number of 
soldiers now so ineffectively engaged in Cuba. 

The above situation, taken in connection with the financial difficulties 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 623 

of Spain, gives the government and the Queen Regent plenty of subject 
for thought. 

Senor De Lome has open to him one of the grandest opportunities of 
a lifetime. With his great ability and influence with the Queen Regent 
and the government at home, and the confidence of the Spanish public, 
he can do more at this time than any living man to maintain the monarchy 
and the dignity of Spain. 

Senor De Lome can render an unparalleled service to his Queen and 
country, and at the same time put an end to the horrible condition of 
affairs in Cuba, if he should avail of the present situation to recommend, 
or to allow others to bring about, subject to his approval, an adjustment 
of the Cuban question upon the commercial basis. 

I am informed, also, through Spanish sources, the facts obtained from 
letters just arriving from Cuba, written by loyalists there, that many of 
the most intensely loyal Spaniards in Cuba, who a year ago would not 
even listen to a suggestion of autonomy, have reached the conclusion 
that the military operations of Spain cannot be successful, and in the 
event of an insurgent success, they believe the Cubans incapable of giv- 
ing a stable government, and, consequently, "look forward with aiixiety 
and interest to some form of intervention in the affairs of Cuba by the 
United States." 

This conclusion is reached, not because their loyalty to Spain has 
diminished, but because they recognize the existing situation in Cuba, 
and know that their property and the interests of humanity will be best 
conserved by a termination of the struggle in the Island at the earliest 
possible moment. 

The instructions given to General Woodford will, of course, have a de- 
cisive bearing on this situation, but it is a misfortune that Senor De Lome 
does not grasp the situation, and secure for himself the prestige and the 
great advantages to Spain which would follow an adjustment of this mat- 
ter on a commercial basis before General Woodford reaches Madrid. 

We, the people of the United States, will be called 
upon to define our Cuban policy. It will not do to say 
we have no business in Cuba. We have much business 
there. The Cuban mark is in our history as plainly as 
the Island appears on the map of the Americas. Pres- 
ident McKinley has given a great deal of attention to 



624 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



Cuban conditions, and there is no one who has studied 
the whole case with more assiduity and anxiety. He 
has held as of serious purpose, and the nature of a law, 
the St. Louis platform upon which he received the nom- 
ination for the office he holds. This platform says : 

The government of Spain having lost control of Cuba * * * we 
believe that the government of the United States should actively use its 
influence and good offices to restore peace and give independence to the 
Island. 

There are perhaps four courses the administration 
can pursue : 

1. Wait inactively. 

2. Recognize Cuban belligerency. 

3. The Grant-Fish-Sickles policy, which was the tender 
of good offices to restore peace, proclaim liberty, and 
establish independence — Cuba to pay Spain, secured, 
if it were the pleasure of Congress,, by the guarantee of 
the United States — and when this proposal was made 
and Field-Marshal Prim wanted to know how much 
money would be forthcoming, Sickles said presumably 
there might be $125,000,000 for Cuba and Porto Rico! 
Doubtless there would be strong objection to our going 
Cuba's security to compensate Spain ; and, naturally, 
we turn to seek some other way. 

4. There remains a project that has received re- 
spectful consideration, because it was prepared with a 
friendly and patriotic purpose, and after close examina- 
tion of the commanding circumstances. It has not been 
lost sight of by the President in his exclusive investiga- 
tions, and certainly offers the advantages of a system 
of pacification, not costing us anything, or committing 
us to any policy but that of peace, freedom and inde- 



RER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 625 

pendence : all required being the consent of the parties 
to the war and an enabling act by Congress, conferring 
extraordinary powers upon the Executive. The scheme 
is the relinquishment of Cuba by Spain, and the com- 
plete evacuation of Cuba by the Spanish army and 
navy ; the recognition of the present Cuban govern- 
ment of the Island for purposes of negotiation; $ioo,- 
000,000 to be paid by Cuba to Spain in cash or negoti- 
able paper, the money to be raised by the issue and sale 
of $150,000,000 face value of four per cent. Cuban 
bonds ; the $6,000,000 a year interest to be received and 
applied by American agents, acting under the authority 
of Congress, in the Cuban custom houses. The bonds 
would be sold below par, as usual in Europe, and the 
Cubans would need some money at the start. 

Perhaps this proposition looking to the pacification, 
liberty and independence of Cuba may be bettered in 
the course of time, but it is the best up to date, and if 
the administration could find its policy within these 
lines, and Congress also, there might soon be peace, 
General Stewart L. Woodford, Minister to Spain, is a 
lawyer and soldier and a student, a gentleman of cour- 
tesies and excellent form in literature. He felt that it 
was his first duty to master the case of the relations of 
the United States with Spain and Cuba, and his mission 
is of the highest importance, equally delicate and diffi- 
cult. The Queen Regent signifies her sense of the im- 
portance of the attitude of the United States by con- 
senting to receive the American minister in her summer 
home at St. Sebastian. There are reasons for hope that 
with peace, which is his mission, there may be united 
liberty and honor. 



626 tHE STORY OF CUBA: 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

STRAINED RELATIONS BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND SPAIN 

Review of the Course of the War — Failures of the Captains-General 
Campos, Weyler and Blanco — Under Spain's Colonial System 
Autonomy of Cuba Impossible — Significance of the President's 
Annual Message — " Intervene with Force " — De Lome Incident — 
His Representative Character — The Tragedy of the Maine in 
Havana Harbor — Captain Sigsbee's Despatch — List of Dead of the 
Maine — The President Refuses to Recall General Lee at Spanish 
Suggestion, and $50,000,000 are appropriated for National Defense 
— There's a War Cloud on the Horizon. 

It was upon the claim well sustained that the treaty 
that closed the ten years' war in Cuba from '68 to '"jZ 
had not been faithfully kept by the Spaniards, that the 
present war was organized, and broke out in February, 
1 895. The Spanish defense has been that the insurgents 
sold out in '78, and no doubt some of them did. The 
Cubans, who honestly believed they had guarantees of 
substantial reform, were deceived by the pomp of the 
language of Spanish law and decree and treaty makers, 
a literary characteristic that distinguishes with vague 
splendor, the writings official and other on behalf of 
alleged autonomy. Martinez Campos, who ended the 
ten years' war and gained great credit for it, whatever 
happened to his country and to Cuba, sailed from Spain 
to repeat his famous rdle as pacificator as soon as the 
situation in the Island became serious, and encountered 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 627 

a more revengeful and destructive hostility than he had 
experienced on the former occasion. He labored under 
the disadvantage of the impracticability for some 
months of arousing in Spain an understanding of the 
extent of the insurrection, and the peril in which the 
Spanish cause was placed. Campos made a gallant 
fight, and tried the policy of concessions and humanity. 
Spain was frightened by his calls for troops, and the 
Spaniards in Cuba blamed him for the possession of 
the weaknesses of humanity, and likened him to General 
McClellan in the war of the American States. He was, 
in their view, too cautious and tender, and wanted too 
many reinforcements, whereas the thing needful was, 
in their opinion, a more vindictive energy. The Vol- 
unteers are the representatives of the true Spanish spirit 
in Cuba, and they put their faith in severities. For a 
time Campos was sustained by his great reputation and 
the home feeling that his discomfiture would be the 
final defeat of the cause of Spain. Nearly a year of his 
administration had passed when he found public opinion '' 
going against him in Madrid and Havana, and he was 
recalled, Captain-General Marin succeeding until Gen- 
eral Weyler, who had been gazetted for the position, 
could arrive. 

The war had lasted within a few days of a year when- 
the landing of Weyler took place. Gomez had been 
carrying on hostilities with knife and torch — and his 
march of nearly five hundred miles from the Eastern 
Provinces that are the fertile soil of rebellion, to Pinar 
del Rio, was marked by burning cane and the suspension 
of industry. He had taken the risk of a San Domingo 
reputation by reddening the famous indigo skies with 
the flaming cane-fields, and was proceeding to destroy 



528 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

tobacco also. His object was to cut off resources, and 
also by throwing laboring men out of employment to 
drive them into the insurgent army. A good deal of 
cane was spared when liberal assessments were paid by 
the proprietors to the Cuban authorities. As there was 
martial law on both sides, it would be correct to say 
the military authorities. The peasantry of Cuba, white 
and black, are, with rare exceptions, faithful to the 
Cuban cause. Each country store was a reservoir of 
articles useful to the rebellion. There was no village in 
which the rebels were not welcomed and fed with the 
best, the richest of islands afforded. There was not a 
horse not taken at will by the enemies of Spain, or a 
herd of cattle or hogs or flock of sheep, a grove of fruit 
trees, a potato patch, that did not supply food to those 
fighting against the tyranny of the peninsula. The 
Spanish columns moved about as if blindfolded. They 
could not get information on the plantations or in the 
villages, as to the presence of rebels ; and the rebels 
were thoroughly imformed day and night of the move- 
ments of the Spaniards. If a Spanish column was march- 
ing, it found nothing in the road to guide it, while the 
stones on the paths signalled to the insurgents the oper- 
ations of their foes. The rebels always knew, and the 
Spaniard never, when they came to cross roads — the 
way to go to meet or to avoid opposing forces. It was 
out of these conditions that proceeded Weyler's orders. 
He emptied the stores, confiscated domestic animals, 
endeavored to force open declarations from Cubans as 
to their sympathies — and then came the burning of 
villages, the slaughter of cattle, the orders for concentra- 
tion around the garrisoned posts, the military objects 
being the desolation of the country so that it could not 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



029 



afford subsistence to the armed and organized foes of 
the government. 

The horrors of the war were the logical results of the 
state of the country — and not entirely,as usually under- 
stood, blood-thirstiness, violence a^d vengeance. The 
use of the torch by Gomez countenanced the incessant 
Spanish accusation that the revolt against Spain in Cuba 
must be crushed in the name of order and civilization, or 
the Island would be an enlarged San Domingo, far gone in 
barbarism. The charge is not true, and it was a capital 
error to give a color to carry it. The same causes of the 
devastation of the country forced the Spaniards into a 
method of war fatal to themselves, because it consumed 
their troops in an ineffectual defensive. There is one 
cane plantation in Cuba now, guarded by forty, little 
Spanish forts and a squad of cavalry, and the trochas 
or barriers of fortification across the Island detain the 
Spanish forces from actual activities — providing a pre- 
tense of doing something that occupies many thousands 
to no purpose. If the Spaniards had taken a small per- 
centage of the money of which they have wrongfully 
deprived the Cubans,- and built roads — a good-one 
lengthwise the island, as near the centre as possible, 
with branches to the seaports, so that troops could have 
been moved easily, swiftly and with system, the enor- 
mous army that has not crushed the rebellion would 
have deprived the insurgents of all their strongholds 
and worn them out. Indeed, if the Spanish troops had 
been used as road builders instead of trocha constructors 
for the last two years, there might have been some pros- 
pect or chance for decisive military successes in behalf 
of the Peninsula, for there would have been roads 
offering facilities for warfare. 



630 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

General Weyler's victories were those of a destroyer. 
He made deserts and solitudes and called the work 
pacification. He showed the true spirit of Spanish con- 
quest, and represented the real policy of Spain, as Cam- 
pos did not, and Blanco does not. The retirement of 
Weyler was because Canovas was assassinated, and he 
was the victim, not of Cuban patriots, but of Spanish 
anarchists, who have also vowed to deal with Weyler, 
because he was merciless to the murderers of Barcelona, 
who threw bombs into a theatre and also a religious 
procession. The bomb that was exploded in the Ha- 
vana palace in Weyler's time was not a Cuban, but an 
Anarchial, shell. 

When Weyler sailed for Spain he made arrogant 
claims to have progressed in his task, but such work as 
was accomplished was rather by fire, fever and famine 
than by military force. It was time for a change, as 
the resources of Spain, both in men and money, had been 
wastefuUy expended, until her exhaustion was supple- 
mented by her desperation. The failure of Weyler was 
more marked than that of Campos, and demonstrated 
at least that cruelty could not save the cause of Spain. 

General Blanco, it is only fair to say, has put upon 
Cuban autonomy, which is the pith of his policy, a lib- 
eral construction, and there is no doubt he has sought 
to humanize the conflict which is gnawing the bones of 
the people and has squandered the blood and gold of 
his country. But he forgets the Cubans well know that 
autonomy with the war debt of $500,000,000 means 
poverty and slavery forever, and that there is nothing 
in a Spanish reform that leaves the Captain-General to 
rule under martial law — nothing in an autonomy that 
does not abolish the office of Captain-General, the cen- 




i^1>T i»4f..»yj w u i'^-^tf: la 



GENHRAI^ lil^AXCO. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 63 1 

tral and commanding- authority in the tyranny that was 
at the beginning-, and will abide to the end, of Spanish 
dominion. 

President McKinley was from the first profoundly im- 
pressed by the seriousness of the Cuban situation, and 
anxious to preserve " peace with honor." He has been 
painstaking in procuring information, and his influence 
has been constantly conservative. His solicitude to per- 
form humane offices has been conspicuous. His first 
official act in the affairs of Cuba was to ask an appropria- 
tion to buy medicines and food and transportation out of 
the land for Americans stranded there. He has availed 
himself fully of consular reports and the observations of 
travelers in whom he had confidence. He has refused 
the call in Congress for the full reports of consuls, for if 
they were written with a view to immediate publicity 
their value would be destroyed. He has studied every 
phase of all the questions involved. He has witnessed 
with clear intelligence the efforts of the filibusters to in- 
volve this country in a war with Cuba, that they might 
appropriate the usufruct of the conflict. We presume 
that he understands perfectly that there are two classes 
of American citizens in Cuba — one the actual Americans, 
who were engaged in various Cuban industries that have 
been annihilated by the war; and the other the Cubans, 
who have sought American citizenship for the purpose 
of using it in their political relations. These are people 
who, having no country of their own, seek protection 
under the wing of the Great Republic, but are not well 
instructed as to the distinction between the proper and 
the illegitimate exercise of the rights acquired by 
naturalization. The Spaniards reserve their keenest 
hatred for this class of American citizens, and the con- 



632 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

suls always have their hands full of trouble arising from 
this difficult line of citzenship, because the more doubt- 
ful the title of American, the more eager the assump- 
tion of its privileges. 

The Cubans themselves are not agreed as to the use 
they would make of their independence if they should 
find themselves in possession of the Island. Some are 
for heading a Cuban League under European patron- 
age ; others want the United States to become respon- 
sible for their protection. The more active and ambi- 
tious wish to administer the natural riches of the soil 
and climate, as the Spaniards have been doing. Those 
who desire, first and last, plain and speedy annexation 
to the Great Republic are not prominent in proportion 
to their numbers, but they have usually been students 
or travelers, or both, in the United States. The impor- 
tant planters, not violent Spaniards, want a strong gov- 
ernment like ours — one that recognizes the rights of 
labor and secures the employment of capital. All would 
gladly see this country drive out Spain. The rest, they 
feel, would be easy, and they have no fears about the 
people of Cuba governing themselves as they have been 
taught wisdom in schools of sorrow. 

The administration has been under filibuster fire from 
the first. It seemed to the President to be his duty to 
assume that Spain was a civilized nation, and that if we 
were forced into war with that country it would be on 
such grounds that she could not find friends to protest 
against our action or interfere with it, even with a de- 
mand for arbitration. The instructions to General 
Woodford were drawn to assert our natural interest 
without offending Spanish sensibility, and the influence 
of our minister to Spain has been assiduously for peace. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 633 

The President confidently took a hopeful view of the 
change in Spain that withdrew General Weyler and 
substituted General Blanco, with his proclamations 
of autonomy and efforts to gain the confidence of 
Cubans. 

Any form of Spanish rule would be Cuban submis- 
sion, and the killing of General Ruiz, who sought to 
treat with the insurgents for peace on the autonomist 
platform, declared the implacable antagonisms engen- 
dered by the war as conducted by Weyler and Gomez. 
It seemed to the President that if General Blanco could 
in a humane way pacify the Island, he should have 
reasonable time, and our disturbing intrusion would be 
unfortunate ; at the same time, our interests in Cuba 
were enormous, and we certainly had a right to put out 
the fire, if it did not speedily burn itself out. In his 
first annual message to Congress, the President candidly 
declared himself — gave impressively the record of our ' 
relations with Cuba — spoke plainly of the peculiar 
horrors of war in the Island, and indicated that the time 
might come when we must interfere. ^ 

This, the announcement of an ultimatum, was in terms f 
that were without asperity and without date, and yet had 
in them the substance of things known to both parties. 
The President closed his recital of the Cuban situation 
in his message, after stating efforts would be continued 
to bring about a peace honorable and enduring, with 
these words : " If it shall hereafter appear to be a duty 
imposed by our obligations to ourselves, to civilization 
and humanity, to intervene with force, it shall be without "' 

fault on our part, and only because the necessity for 
sudrf'^ction will be so clear as to command the support , 
and approval of the civilized world." 

; ■ 



634 ^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

Such were the Unes that framed the very earnest 
and strong presentation of the historical facts that lead up 
to the point that we may have to " intervene with force," 
. that caused the unhappy excitement of the Spanish 
minister, Senor Enrique Depuy De Lome, in the course 
of which he wrote the letter that closed his career in 
this country. Sagasta, the prime minister, said of it : 

" The Spanish government was in ignorance that there existed differ- 
ences between its representatives and the chief of that state." 
" Since when did Depuy De Lome's attitude change ? " 
"I think since the reading of McKinley's message." 

The filibusters have never seemed to know that the 
message of the President was a document of the first 
class, but the Spaniards perfectly understand it, and the 
De Lome letter was an expression of chagrin. The 
President's message was fair warning that the De Lome 
representations could but a little while be accepted as 
sufficient. His letter never reached the editor of the 
Heraldo, to whom it was addressed ; for it was stolen by 
^ a young man engaged by the editor in Havana. This 

- confidential person, seeing the marks of the Spanish lega- 
tion on the envelope, thought it might have value, thrust 
it in his pocket, and busied himself to place it in the hands 
of the Cuban Junta. They gave it out for publication, 
and sent the original to our State department. The letter 

^^was in the newspapers before Assistant Secretary Day 
received it, and De Lome got in his resignation in time 
to have it accepted. His letter was bitterly insulting to 
the President, calling him a " low politician," who 
catered to the rabble ; and he said as to the annual 
message, " I consider it bad." He wanted the question of 
commercial relations agitated, "even though only for 




EX-MINISTKR DE I,OME. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 635 

efifect," and he desired an important man to start a 
propaganda among senators with. These passages im- 
puted insincerities to the Spanish government, and that 
had to be explained. 

De Lome said further, that " without mihtary success 
nothing could be accomplished ; " and there has been no 
considerable military success on either side. The in- 
surgents must win if the aggressions of Spain are all 
failures. The season rapidly passes when military 
operations on a large scale are practicable, and the 
fourth year of the war promises a continuation of incon- 
sequent effort, but it is reported that reinforcements of 
several thousand Spaniards are on the way over the 
sea. Both sides are feeling that a crisis is at hand, 
and claiming to do more fighting than usual, but all 
the reports are unreliable, and the war drags on tediously, 
and if it were possible for Spain to conquer Cuba, it 
would be at the expense of her own ruin. 

The last news the ex-Spanish minister heard before he 
sailed for England was that the Maine had been blown 
up, with great loss of life, in Havana Harbor. There is 
no doubt that De Lome served his country ably and 
effectually. He was almost fanatical on the subject of 
Spain, and regarded those who did not agree with his 
views as against him and his country and, animated 
by hostile feeling, the product of ignorance. He was 
believed to have promised the Queen Regent that while 
he was Spanish minister to the United States this coun- 
try would not intervene in Cuba. He was much dis- 
turbed by our extraordinary newspapers, and said he 
could not see how an editor could be a ruffian in his office 
and a gentleman at home. He was understood to 
deprecate Weyler's policy, and to constantly demand 



636 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

military success. His private letter, which has had so 
much publicity, confirms this impression as to his posi- 
tion. Still he once said, if it had not been for his diplo- 
matic position, he could trouble Secretary Sherman by 
quoting- the orders of General Sherman and reciting his 
record during the march to the sea, and from Savannah 
to Alexandria, and the devastation of the valley of Vir- 
ginia by Sheridan. One of his sayings was, that we of 
the United States should "beware of the tropical 
Yankee," as he would be an element of disturbance. 
De Lome's policy was to play for time, and urge that 
the only hope was in Spanish military success. The 
time he gained was not improved, and to his successor 
has been assigned an impossible task. He cannot 
fail to be depressed by the gloomy fortunes of his 
country. 

American citizens are now more thoroughly awakened 
than ever before as to our critical relations with Spain, 
arising from the unquestionable sympathy we have with 
the freedom and independence of Cuba, and the attrac- 
tion of gravitation we exercise on the island, but will 
not entirely understand the situation, if they do not 
contemplate the presence here and in Cuba of a filibus- 
ter party, the object of whose existence is to bring 
about a war between Spain and the United States. The 
extravagances of the filibusters have harmed, in the 
judgment of all enlightened people, the cause of Cuba. 
One of the most frequent and the loudest outcries of 
the filibuster was that we should have a ship of war in 
Havana, and the pretense was to protect American citi- 
zens. The real object to get a ship there was always 
to increase the chances of war, by causing a sharper 
friction between the Spanish and American officials. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 637 

The desperadoes of Havana, if disposed to assassinate 
Americans, could not be deterred by a ship or ships in 
the harbor, miles away from the scene of bloodshed, 
and the bombardment of a stone city like Havana would 
consume a great deal of ammunition without doing 
much damage. I had an interview with General Wey- 
ler as to a visit by a ship of war, and he said a civil call 
by one of our ships of war would, of course, be cordially 
responded to. An objection to keeping ships — hot and 
crowded ironclads — in Havana Harbor, is the horrible 
pollution of the place. The harbor is more than half filled 
with the sediment that has been accumulating there 
for centuries, and causes the yellow fever all the year 
round. The tide, which rises only about a foot in the 
gulf, hardly ruffles the water of the harbor. We would 
sacrifice many lives by making a naval station of 
Havana. This is a fact that could not force an impres- 
sion upon the public mind until recent experiences 
imparted information. There was no end of the clamor 
for a war ship, but it was disregarded until the tur- 
bulent elements in Havana became riotous against the 
Blanco administration. The hostility the disorderly 
people manifested was divided about evenly between 
the Autonomists and the Americans. It was essentially 
a manifestation of the implacable character of the vol- 
unteers, who have been guilty of bloody work that has 
darkly stained Cuban history. 

These disturbances marked the degeneracy of the 
rioters and the decadence of the fortunes of Spain. 
A reactionary revolution was narrowly escaped, and 
the Maine, ordered to Havana, was received by the 
Spanish officials with every formality of respect. The 
firing of salutes by the forts attracted great crowds to 



638 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



the water front, and later the Maine ran up the Spanish 
royal ensign and saluted the flagship with thirteen guns. 
In response the Alfonso hoisted the Stars and Stripes 
and returned the salute, gun for gun. There was a 
great deal of feeling behind the show of civilities, and 
the exertion of politeness only emphasized the fact of 
strained relations. The Spaniards were at once active 
in naval demonstrations, sending the Vizcaya, one of 
their best ships, to make a call at New York, where the 
first news she got was the explosion of the Maine; 
and the policy of sending the strong ships of Spain to 
Havana has been pressed ever since. There can be no 
question that this would have been done long before, if 
it had not been feared that a muster of the Spanish bat- 
tleships in West India waters might be construed by the 
United States as an invitation to do likewise. Spain 
needs her war boats at Havana because their big guns 
could sweep the streets in case of mobs. It would be 
wise though, to remember the precedent that when 
Lord Albemarle and General Isaac Putnam captured 
Havana, in 1762, a Spanish fleet of fourteen sail of the 
line was part of the spoil. 

It was on the night of Feb. 15th, before ten o'clock, 
that the great tragedy of the Maine occurred, and Capt, 
Sigsbee cabled to the secretary of the navy this memor- 
able communication : 

Secretary of the Navy — 

Washington, D, C. 
Maine blown up in Havana Harbor at nine forty to-night and destroyed. 
Many wounded and doubtless more killed or drowned. Wounded and 
others on board Spanish man-of-war and Ward line steamer. Send Light 
House Tenders from Key West for crew and the few pieces of equipment 
above water. None had clothing other than that upon him. Public 



\ 



X 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 639 

opinion should be suspended until further report. All officers believed 
to be saved. Jenkins and Merritt not yet accounted tor.* Many Span- 
ish officers, including representative of General Blanco, now with me to 
express sympathy. Sigsbee. 

It was this despatch that President McKinley was 
aroused at 3 o'clock in the morning of the sixteenth of 
February to read. The President was deeply moved, 
and instantly recognized the great qualities of the 
officer who, in the midst of scenes of horror, could sketch 
at once in few words the proportions of the event, and 
give the word to the wdrld that was the statesmanship 
of the hour. It is said th« President remarked after 
studying the despatch, " Ah, there is a man — a great 
man," and whatever comes or goes, the country will be- 
lieve in the heroism and irreproachable conduct of the 
captain whose ship was lost by no fault of his. Out of 
the cloud of disaster he comes with radiant reputation. 
The true glory of duty done shines through misfortune. 

Of the conduct of American officers and seamen, 
Capt. Mahan, the Historian of Sea Power, worthily said : 

'* The self-control shown in the midst of a sudden and terrible dan- 
ger, of which not one of the men on board knew, showed to his mind that 
in battle, with known dangers about them, and expecting every minute 
the fate that might overtake them, the fellow sailors of the men of the 
Maine would stand to their guns and their ship to the last. It was evi- 
dent that the old naval spirit existed, and that the sailors of the new navy 
were as good as those who manned the old-time ships." 

A passenger on the City of Washington, moored 300 
feet from the Maine half an hour before she was blown 

up, says : 

* Hastening to the points where duty called, these gallant officers were lost. 
They are accounted for on the roll of honor imperishable. 



640 



THE STORY OF CUBA. 



" Capt. Sigsbee was the last man to leave his ship. We could see his 
figure clearly outlined against the flames of the super-structure, and his 
voice rang out clear as a trumpet." 

When the British man-of-war Captain was lost on the 
Bay of Biscay, all the officers and crew perishing, there 
was placed in St. Paul's Cathedral, on tablets of brass, 
the full list of the men who perished, and thus death 
conferred upon the ship's company immortality. The 
list of the lost on the Maine should be written in bronze, 
and with august ceremony placed in the Memorial 
Hall in the National Capitol. 



LIST OF THE DEAD OF THE MAINE. 



Michael Malone, 
Thomas Caine, 

B. Anguland, 
J. B. Lewis, 
M. Cochrane, 
M. Lanahan, 
T. J. Quigley, 
F. Boll, 

U. Kelley, 

C. Todoresco, 
Michael Griffin, 
Joseph Reilly, 
N. T. Mudd, 
Joseph Seery, 
James H. Mason, 
Daniel Leene, 

D. J. Tehan, 
T. J. Jones, 
O. Sheridan, 
J. Scully, 

J. F. Walsh, 
Bernard Lynch, 
J. J. McManus, 
Rudolph Falk, 



John Bookbinder, 
G. C. Moss, 
James Drury, 
J. E. Wickstrom, 
John 'Kelley, 
John Hamilton, 
A, Keskell, 
William Lambert, 
A. B. Hennekes, 
Frank B. Tigges, 
C. F. J. Fadde, 
W. J. Lee, 

F. C. Phillips, 

G. W. Wilbur, 
C. M. Nolan, 
R. Grupp, 
William Cosgrove, 
T. Magaminie, 

K. Suzuki, 
P. C. Johansen, 
James O. Connor, 
William J. Tinsman, 
John Foujerem, 
L. L. Barry, 



C. A. Hamilton, 
T. F. Kinsella, 
J. Pinkney, 

D. P. Rice, 
N. Rising, 

H. McGonigle, 
Thomas Clark, 
P. Grady, 

E. P. Graham, 
R. Perry, 

R. White, 
A.Wilson, 
Y. Kitigata, 
J. E. Marshall, 
John Matza, 
J. H. Ziegler, 
H. J. Keys, 
Charles Jennings, 
John Wallace, 
Edward Burns, 
J. J. Shea, 
Martin Tuohey, 

F. Page, 
Walter S. Sellers, 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 



641 



W. J. Horn, 
J. M. League, 
Thomas Troy, 
C. Kronyak, 
J. W. Louden, 
G. Lieber, 
T. Finch, 

B. H. Herriman, 
Walter Cameron, 
W. A. Greer, 

C. Murphy, 
M. Stevenson 
Gustav Holm, 
C. F. Hassell, 

B. Fountain, 
William Robinson, 
A. Anfindsen, 
William Montfort, 
Frank Gardner, 

C. O. White, 
C. A. Scott, 
Thomas Shea, 
Arthur Brofeldt, 
Frank Sutton, 
Prank Andrews, 
J. A. Graham, 
J. P. Aitken, 
John Powers, 
Henry Auchenbach, 
William Noble, 
William Coleman, 
H. A. Anderson, 
William Hough, 

G. Leupold, 
J. C. Neilson, 
John Warren, 
I. Sugasaki, 
Thomas J. Gardner, 
John A. Hallberg, 
William Rushworth, 



Michael Kane, 
A. Conroy, 
T. J. Harty, 
E. Harris, 

E. Mattsen, 
J. Palmgren, 

J. H. Shillington, 
C. E. Lowell, 
R. B. Hawkins, 

F. Fisher, 

E. M. Meilstrup, 
C. P. Quinn, 
P. J. Shea, 
Thomas M. Cole, 
Hugo Kruse, 
John Merz, 
J. J. Lorenzen, 
Henry Gross, 
Robert Wilson, 
Daniel Lewis, 
B. L. Marsden, 
K. Christianson, 
H. Brinkman, 
S. Neilson, 
William Lund, 
J. C. Clarke, 
H. M. Carr, 
George Thompson, 
M. F. Harris, 
William Donoughy, 
Peter Roos, 
Charles Curran, 
D. Dahlman, 
William Hamburger, 
H. O'Regan, 
F. H. Kniese, 
John A. Kay, 
John Porter, 
Robert Burkhardt, 
Elden H. Mero. 



George Miller, 
George Whiten, 
Leon Bonner, 

F. E. Kinsey, 
Carl Evanson, 
John Martensen, 
W. H. Gorman, 
Charles Hauch, 
J. F. Gordon, 

G. D. Faubel, 
P. D. Hughes, 
Edward Lawer, 
J. F. Furlong, 
S. Lees, 

L. J. Dancaster, 
John P. Etts, 
Matthew Lynch, 

F. Bloomberg, 
George Mobles, 
W. R. B. Caufield, 

G. C. Ording, 
Charles Laird, 
J. P. Barry, 

T. J. O'Hagan, 
W. C. Hanrahan, 
A. C. Bruns, 
L. H. Moore, 
John R. Bell, 
A. Simmons, 
M. Flaherty, 
J. T. Adams, 
William J. Fuer, 
W. Coleman, 
M. E. Salmin, 
C. H. Jenks, 
George Edler, 

C. W. Feirmann, 
Patrick O'Neil, 

D. O'C. Harley, 
F. Butler, 



642 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

M. Ohye, C. E. Safford, William S. Miller, 

O. Ishida, A. J. Fisher, Jacob Becker, 

S. Chingi, W. A. Rieger, F. Kihlstron, 

P. Geffney, August Schroeder, J. T. Liden, 

Patrick Flynn, Henry S. Baum, John H. Moss, 

Charles F. Just, L. M. Fleischman, James Boyle. 

Charles Franke, G. Lapiers, 

The word from Captain Sigsbee that pubHc opinion 
should be suspended as to the cause of the murderous 
wreckage of the Maine was of importance to the coun- 
try. It was known that the civihties of the Spaniards 
regarding" the presence of the Maine at Havana were 
not to be taken as f riendUness, but as pohteness merely — 
that thousands of them, hating the United States, and 
charging all their Cuban sorrows to us, held the arrival 
of the Maine to be intrusive, and a deliberate insult that 
ought to be resented — and the natural impulse of 
Americans was to ascribe the massacre to the malice of 
Spain. This was repelled by the launching of boats 
from the neighboring Spanish ship-of-war to save the 
wounded, and the imposing ceremony with which the 
remains of the dead were escorted to and buried in the 
beautiful cemetery of Havana. The President seconded 
the weighty suggestion of Captain Sigsbee, making for 
the indication of public expression until full investiga- 
tion could be had, the statement, upon information, 
that he was impressed the loss of the ship was ac- 
cidental ; and he hoped to have that opinion con- 
firmed. 

Fortunately, the romancers of Key West were so 
eager to prejudge and anxious to rush the country 
into war, that they put forth the specific invention, on 
the day when they thought the divers would begin 




CAPXAIX SIGSBKH OX THE DKCK Ol" TUli MAIXK 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 643 

operations, that the discovery was made of a hole eight 
inches in diameter, by a percussion torpedo, that 
penetrating the ship, had exploded her forward maga- 
zine ; and thus was the mystery of the Maine solved at 
once by those frantic to let slip the dogs of war. 
The inventor of the percussion torpedo story gave no 
one a chance to believe it, for within a few hours the 
fact appeared that the divers had not made a descent, 
and all informed persons knew that the theory of an 
eight-inch torpedo hole was opposed to all experience — 
that if a ship was struck and penetrated by such a missile 
the wound would certainly be more, rather than less, 
than eight inches wide. 

The second war-cry fiction was rather more incredible 
than the first, A wounded man on the watch had seen 
a strange craft making toward the doomed ship just 
before the explosion. It was a torpedo that displayed a 
light and emitted a smoke! This marvelous conception 
had barely touched the ship when the shock occurred. 
The American people were thus doubly cautioned, and 
the court of inquiry proceeded in order with decency 
and dignity, and there was no giving out of statements 
bearing the official stamp — the incessant promulgation 
of rumors and romances steadily losing credit. Maps 
were published in the journals most enterprising in 
the border regions, where facts and fakes are mingled, 
until neither is acceptable, showing that Havana Harbor 
was mined, and that the Spaniards had moved the 
Mai7te where mines were thickest. It was improbable 
that there was a mine in the harbor, for the entrance is 
so narrow and already obstructed by the wreck two 
years ago of a man-of-war of Spain, that the closure 
could be made complete in a few hours. In addition, 



644 "^^^ STORY OF CUBA. 

was the fact of a mass of hideous sediment in the harbor 
■ — more mud, the accumulation of centuries, than water 
— and the first theory did not prevail. It was conceded 
that the Spanish Government could not have had any 
direct connection with such a tremendous treachery, 
and that there were no harbor mines. It was remem- 
bered the Maine s boiler-room and the magazines for the 
ten-inch guns and the coal bunkers, were much crowded 
— only a steel wall a quarter of an inch thick between 
the magazine and the boiler-room, and that there had 
been combustion of coal in the bunkers of the Cincinnati 
discovered by a smoke from the magazine itself, and 
that the instantaneous execution of the order to flood it 
was all that saved the ship. There were other incidents 
showing that there should be no deep surprise if it were 
shown that the Maine blew up from the interior, and 
therefore that Spaniards should be acquitted of the 
execution of a horrible plot. When the wreck as it 
first appeared was photographed, there were indications 
of the exertion of an awful force from beneath on the 
port side. 

There was something' [startling in the expression of 
the ragged mass of steel, and a report, identified with a 
respectable name, had universal circulation that some of 
the outer plates of the bottom of the ship, painted green, 
were above the surface of the water ! The twist and 
trend of the rags of steel plates pointed below to find 
the origin of disfigurement; and the investigation pro- 
ceeded so far as to show that some of the ship's ammuni- 
tion, believed to have wrought the ruin, was not ex- 
ploded. Unquestionably the first torpedo stories and 
the mine maps were unworthy of credence, but since 
there has been a war, with the exception of that between 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 645 

Japan and China, there have been developed high ex- 
plosives with startling- possibilities — agencies of de- 
struction of enormous power, in proportion to the space 
occupied ; and the great harbor of Havana, with boats 
flitting about continually, might have been the scene 
for the labors of a band of conspiring malignants, to 
have planted a dynamite shell, probably something 
simple as a small steam boiler, near the Maine. It could 
have been trailed under the water, wired, and let go, 
and the wires sunken and buoyed. 

All this is not impossible, and we must not insist that 
common sense is to be found only in the commonplace, 
for there has been enacted in Havana one of the most 
frightful nightmare tragedies of the world's history ; 
and there can be found nothing in accounting for it 
more mysterious and dreadful than the event. Dyna- 
mite has been freely used in the Cuban war, and Hav- 
ana abounds in desperate characters ready for any 
hazard and expert in all devices of devastation. 

There has been this line of thought in the- public 
mind. The President cared so much for the passing 
opinion of the people, that he gave out at midnight the 
opinion on information that the blowing up of the 
Maine was an accident; and there vi\•:^^ be overbearing 
reasons why he should be still, or he would not be 
silent if the intelligence from the wreck supported his 
original judgment that the Maine disaster was acci- 
dental. 

We cannot conceive that the President has not 
knowledge of the findings, unofficial, yet almost, if not 
altogether, conclusive, of the investigations. 

If he could say the hatreds of Spain play^-^ no part 
in the great murder of American seamen, and the 



646 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

danger was over, he would say it surely. There has 
been a perceptible augmentation of the gravity of the 
situation between the United States and Spain. The 
'^■"■:'ent's message meant all that was said, and the 
full scope of the phrase "intervene with force." 

It must be as prominent in Washington as in Madrid 
and Havana, that the failure of Blanco is as positive as 
that of Campos and of Weyler. 

It is clear that the Spaniards are, in their course of 
falling fortunes, becoming infuriated, and that, taking 
counsel of their pride, they may challenge war with us, 
for there is not the least doubt that the public opinion 
of Spain holds us responsible for the horrors of Cuban 
warfare. They have intense feeling and vanity on the 
subject, to them quite sacred, of the honor of their 
arms ; and the official world would save the dynasty, 
while the people rather prefer the Boy King to the 
foreign disturber Don Carlos ; and they deliberately 
brave the path that leads to war. 

The tone of the Madrid journals is very fiery, and the 
complacency with which the Spanish war-cries advocate 
giving the United States a lesson on land and sea, gives 
us the limitation of their intelligence, and the extent of 
their abnormal animosities. More than this, they have 
hopes, if they fight, there will be powers in Europe de- 
manding the fate of Cuba should be settled by arbitra- 
tion. They would like a court of honor of kings. 

They have been borrowing money in France, and 
believe the French would stand for their credit. Their 
Queen Regent is of the royal family of Austria, and the 
Austrian and Spanish navies combined would be an 
array worthy our best efforts to dissolve. The Emperor 
of Germany has been fond of showing the flag of the 




CONSL'L-GHNKKAL KlT/.HUGH hKK. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 647 

Empire in the West Indies, and he is not fond of re- 
pubhcs. The ex-Minister, De Lome, though a blun- 
derer at last in diplomacy, represents the general pro- 
clivity of Spanish sentiments, and he thought of having 
General Sherman's orders in Georgia cabled from 
Havana, signed Weyler, in order to strike Secretary 
Sherman when in the senate, and get him to commit ' 
himself in that body to denouncing his own brother, . 
thinking he was assailing Weyler ; and just now he is 
in touch with Madrid, and his hand has in all probabil- 
ity touched the button requesting the recall of General 
Lee, the Consul-General at Havana. The mind of the 
President of the United States is placed in a clear light 
before the country by the fact that he did not have a 
Cabinet meeting to take the matter into consideration, 
but after a few minutes' conversation with Secretary 
Long and Assistant Secretary of State Day, cabled to 
Gen. Woodford at Madrid — through whom Spain's re- 
quest for Lee's withdrawal had been sent — that the ser- 
vices of Gen. Lee at Havana were indispensable, and 
his removal could not he considered. Gen. Lee is a 
man of heartiness of disposition, full of geniality, a 
good comrade, belongs by natural gifts to the thirty- 
second degree of the order of good fellows. The often 
strained word chivalric would not be misapplied in his 
case. He' does not scare and is firm, but courteous. 

The President was in this matter equally prompt and 
peremptory, but civil, and the stronger for that, and 
then it was revealed that Spain had not demanded the 
removal of Lee, but had offered a suggestion. For this 
the government of Spain must answer to Weyler and 
De Lome. 

The course of the President is like that of the patient 



648 THE STORY OF CUBA. 

Lincoln in 1861, when there was a steady drift into war, 
and it was the poHcy of Lincoln that his antagonists 
should be the peace-breakers. He is patient, too, as 
President Grant was, under such provocation as the 
shooting of fifty-three filibusters at Santiago de Cuba, 
when the negotiations proceeded so far that the Span- 
ish Government proposed arbitration, and consented to 
surrender the ship and pay an indemnity to the families 
of American citizens who had been shot. The pa- 
tience of President McKinley is akin to firmness easily 
developed and absolutely asserted, as in the case of the 
proposed dismissal of Lee — a most grave matter, how- 
ever glossed. 

"^^'5 c^cse of this incident does not remove the fact 
that Spain had the purpose of smoothing the way of 
DeLome by causing Lee's retirement. The hardihood 
of Spain is thus in evidence, and the questions of peace 
and war hang on slender threads. There have been 
efforts by Spain to match us in fighting ships, but they 
cannot do it without buying all that the builders have 
for sale, and Spanish money is scarce. The President 
has in hand an appropriation of $50,000,000 for the 
defense of the country, and we can buy or build all the 
additional ships wanted, if any, to crush the Spanish 
navy. If this is a peace movement, as is the official 
interpretation at Washington, it will be because Spain 
accepts the warning which could not be given in a form 
better adapted to her understanding. If Spain had the 
money she. would fight, and it is the experience of 
nations that poverty often stimulates the spirit of war. 
There are two shocks to come soon — one when the 
Maine case comes up for final adjustment, the other 
when " intervening with force " occurs — for as there is 




ASSISTA N T - Sl'X K HT.\ R V I ) A V. 



HER STRUGGLES FOR LIBERTY. 649 

no hope for Spain to do her part to preserve peace, the 
remedy of intervention is inevitable. 

It is the plain path of wisdom to persevere in patience 
until the ways of peace are no longer the paths of honor, 
and then our shield, the coast defenses, should be in- 
vulnerable, and our sword, the navy, ready to assert 
the Sea Power of the Indies, in the waters where Spain, 
England and France, contended for supremacy through 
centuries ; and we will then make good the promise of 
the President, that when we go to war it will be with the 
sympathy of the civilized world. 



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